The highly anticipated and much contested disembarkation operation of the MV Hondius cruise ship is finally underway.
Spanish medical officials and military personal in full hazmat suits and FFP2 face masks have begun bringing small groups of passengers – they themselves wearing hazmat costumes – onto smaller boats, then leading them to shore, where they’re being put on buses towards Tenerife Sur airport.
It’s a complex operation and a surreal scene reminiscent of the Covid-19 pandemic just a few years ago.
The global outbreak of the coronavirus and its painful memories are very much at the forefront of peoples minds here in Tenerife, where local leaders have vehemently contested the disembarkation, and some of the local population has gathered in protest over the past few days.
The WHO has acknowledged those fears and in a passionate letter to the people of the Canary Islands, director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to provide reassurance, recognising “the pain of 2020 is still real.”
“But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” he said.
Still, it’s no surprise the world’s media has descended on the small port of Granadilla.
More than 100 news crews are covering every moment of this detailed choreography that will see the passengers and some the crew disembark and repatriated over the next two days, before the cruise ship departs towards it’s final destination in the Netherlands
