French authorities will hold a meeting Sunday at Matignon on the hantavirus situation as the MV Hondius is due to dock in the Canaries. The five French passengers will be repatriated and monitored for six weeks.
The MV Hondius cruise ship, where eight cases including three deaths have been reported, is due to arrive in the Canary Islands between 3 and 5 GMT on Sunday. Passengers, deemed high-risk contacts by the WHO, will begin disembarking around 8 local time before being repatriated by plane.
Sébastien Lecornu will convene a meeting Sunday afternoon at Matignon with Health Minister Stéphanie Rist, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and other officials for a situation update. The five French passengers on board will be tested at the Institut Pasteur then confined at home for six weeks.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is overseeing the operation in Tenerife, where the risk to the local population is deemed low. British passengers will be placed in isolation at a hospital near Liverpool.
