Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials have said they will perform careful evacuations.
The vessel is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, on Saturday or Sunday.
None of the remaining passengers or crew on the ship is currently symptomatic, the Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions cruise ship company said Thursday.
The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low, and on Friday, confirmed that a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger had tested negative for hantavirus.
Her possible infection had raised concerns about the virus’s potential transmissibility.
Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people.
Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
