Good morning, and welcome to our Europe live blog. Spanish health officials have said all the passengers on the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius remain asymptomatic after the vessel arrived in Tenerife on Sunday, almost a month after the first passenger died of the rodent-borne disease on board the ship.
“The anchoring has been a success despite all the difficulties,” the health minister, Mónica García, said after intensive preparations to receive the ship in the port of Granadilla were carried out over recent days.
She confirmed all passengers remain asymptomatic and that the first nationals to be evacuated will be the Spanish ones, according to Spanish newspaper El País.
View image in fullscreenSpanish health officials boarded the MV Hondius to conduct final checks and begin disembarking passengers. Photograph: ANP/ShutterstockGarcía said they were undergoing a final medical assessment before their disembarkation and confirmed that all the repatriation flights taking citizens back to their countries will take off by tomorrow.
There were 146 passengers from 20 different nationalities onboard the MV Hondius, where an outbreak has killed three people and caused an international health scare. These countries included the UK, the US, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Philippines and Singapore.
Authorities have said the passengers and crew members who will disembark will have no contact with the local population. Health officials continue to stress that the risk of contagion for the general population is low.
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