Message from the Director-General of WHO to the citizens of Tenerife regarding the response to hantavirus

For Tenerife residents,

My name is Tedros and I work as Director-General of the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for global public health. It is not usual for me to write directly to the people of a community, but today I find it not only appropriate, but necessary.

I want to talk to you directly, not through press releases or technical briefings, but as one human being with another, because you deserve it.

I know you’re worried. I know that when you hear the word “breakout” and watch the ship sail towards your shores, memories come to the surface that none of us have been able to fully shake off. The pain of 2020 is still real and I’m not dismissing it at any point.

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 said it unequivocally, and now I will repeat it to you.

The virus on board the MV Hondius is an Andean strain of hantavirus. It’s serious. Three people lost their lives, and our hearts go out to their families. The risk for you who live daily in Tenerife is low. This is a WHO assessment, and we do not take it lightly.

There are currently no passengers with symptoms on board. A WHO expert is on that ship. Medical supplies are in place. Spanish authorities have prepared a careful step-by-step plan: passengers will be transferred ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, in closed, guarded vehicles, through a fully fenced corridor, and returned directly to their homeland. You won’t meet them. Your families will not meet them.

I also want to say something else, something that goes beyond science.

I personally thanked Prime Minister Sanchez for Spain’s decision to receive this ship. I called it an act of solidarity and moral duty. Because it is what it is. I want you to know that WHO’s request to Spain was not arbitrary. It was created in full compliance with the International Health Regulations, a legally binding framework that defines the rights and obligations of countries and the WHO when responding to public health events of international significance. Under these rules, the nearest port with sufficient medical capacity must be identified to ensure the safety and dignity of those on board. Tenerife met that standard. Spain respected it. Almost 150 people from 23 countries have been at sea for weeks, some of them grieving, all of them scared, all of them longing to go home. Tenerife was chosen because it has the medical facilities, infrastructure and manpower to help them get to safety.

And because I believe in it so deeply, I will be there myself. I intend to travel to Tenerife to witness this operation firsthand, to stand with the health workers, port staff and officials who are doing it, and to pay my respects in person to an island that has responded to a difficult situation with grace, solidarity and compassion. Your humanity deserves to be witnessed, and not just from afar.

As I have said many times: viruses do not care about politics and do not respect borders. The best immunity each of us has is solidarity.

Tenerife is showing that solidarity today. The captain of the ship, Jan Dobrogowski, the crew and the company operating the vessel have shown excellent cooperation during this challenging time. On behalf of the World Health Organization and on behalf of those travelers and their families around the world, I thank the people of Tenerife and everyone else involved.

Please take care of yourself and each other. Believe in the preparations that have been made. And know that WHO stands by you, and by every person on that ship, every step of the way.

With respect, attention and gratitude,

Tedros

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Director General of the World Health Organization