Tuesday, 12 May 2026
WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on hantavirus – 12 May 2026
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Your Excellency Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez,
Dear members of the media,
Buenos dias a todos. By the way, I like “vamos vamos” – when the three ministers were leading this operation, Spain led in style.
Let me begin by thanking Prime Minister Sánchez and his government for Spain’s outstanding leadership and partnership over the past week.
I would especially like to thank Minister Mónica García, my sister, and now I’m introduced to two more ministers with whom we have been working closely, Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Minister Ángel Víctor Torres.
It seems incredible that it was only 10 days ago that WHO was first informed of a cluster of cases of hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius.
Under the International Health Regulations, to which Spain is a party, as His Excellency said, countries are required not to allow people to be stranded at sea when they have the capacity to manage the risk safely and responsibly.
At the time, the ship was near Cabo Verde, and I asked Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva to assist with the evacuation of the three symptomatic passengers on the ship, which he did.
However, WHO’s assessment was that the situation exceeded Cabo Verde’s capacity to handle the full disembarkation and repatriation.
So, last Monday, I wrote to Prime Minister Sánchez asking if Spain would accept the ship and manage the disembarkation of the passengers, with support from the World Health Organization.
By the way, the European Union’s assessment was the same, and the Prime Minister received the same request from the European Union.
He responded immediately in the affirmative, and for the past week, Spain and WHO have worked together closely under Spain’s leadership, along with the government of the Netherlands and the ship’s operator, to coordinate and execute the operation that took place over the past two days.
I thank Prime Minister Sánchez not only for meeting Spain’s legal duty under international law, but also for exercising his moral duty to show solidarity with, and compassion and kindness for the passengers on the ship.
Esepcially during these difficult times, the world needs this kind of kindness and compassion. That’s what exactly Spain did, and we’re so proud to witness that, and I know the whole world is proud to witness that.
I repeat, the world, if there is one thing it needs at this time, it’s kindness and compassion, and support for each other – apart from of course the legal obligations.
We can say confidently that this phase of the operation was successful. As you have heard from Prime Minister Sánchez, all of the passengers have disembarked and left Tenerife, and MV Hondius – the ship – is now on its way to the Netherlands.
Almost 150 people from 23 countries were on this ship for weeks, in what must have been a very frightening situation. Some of the passengers were facing mental breakdown.
They have the right to be treated with dignity and compassion.
There were some people around the world calling for the passengers to be contained on the ship for the full quarantine period. Our view was that would have been inhumane, and unnecessary. Yesterday during our press conference I called it even cruel to suggest that.
We were convinced it was possible to disembark these passengers in a way that was safe for them and the people of Tenerife, and that was respectful of the human rights of the passengers and crew.
Over the past week I have also been in regular contact with the ship’s captain Jan Dobrogowski, and I would like to thank him, the crew, the company that operates the ship, the CEO Mr Remy and all of the passengers for everything they have done.
I fully understand why the people of Tenerife may have been concerned about passengers from the cruise ship disembarking on their shores.
We said the risk was low, both to the people of Tenerife and globally, and all our efforts over the past week have been aimed at keeping it low.
This is a serious situation, which we have taken – and continue to take – very seriously.
A WHO expert boarded the ship in Cabo Verde, and was joined by two doctors from the Netherlands and an expert from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
WHO’s assessment continues to be that the risk to health globally is low.
So far, eleven cases have been reported, including three deaths. All eleven cases are among passengers or crew on the ship.
Nine of the eleven have been confirmed as Andes virus, and the other two are probable.
Those numbers have changed little over the past week, thanks to the efforts of multiple governments and partners. There have been no deaths since the 2nd of May, when WHO was first informed of the cluster of cases.
All suspected and confirmed cases have been isolated and managed under strict medical supervision, minimizing any risk of further transmission.
At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak.
But of course, the situation could change.
And given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.
Each of the countries to which the passengers have been repatriated is responsible for monitoring the health of those passengers.
WHO is aware of reports of a small number of patients with symptoms consistent with Andes virus, and we are following up on each of those reports with the respective countries.
WHO’s recommendation is that they should be monitored actively at a specified quarantine facility or at home for 42 days from the last exposure, which is the 10th of May, which takes us to the 21st of June.
Anyone who becomes symptomatic should be isolated and treated immediately.
Our work is not over. WHO will continue to work closely with experts in all affected countries.
We have also requested countries to report regularly to WHO on the health and well-being of passengers and crew through the International Health Regulations.
Once again, WHO expresses its deep appreciation to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Government of Spain for its outstanding leadership and partnership over the past week.
As I have said many times: viruses do not respect borders. Our strongest immunity is solidarity – and that is the solidarity that Spain has demonstrated.
It gives me great comfort that there are still people in our world who do things not because they are politically expedient, but simply because they are right – for the people of Spain and the people of the world.
Muchas gracias.
