The Spanish Ministry of Health stated on the 8th that a person who shared the same flight as a later deceased passenger from the "Hondures" cruise ship was hospitalized in the southeastern city of Alicante due to symptoms consistent with hantavirus infection.
The Secretary of State for Health (equivalent to Deputy Minister of Health) Padilla said the suspected case found in Alicante is a woman who was on the same flight as the patient who fell ill on the "Hondures" cruise ship and died in Johannesburg, South Africa.
On the 6th, the South African government reported that two passengers from the "Hondures" cruise ship had tested positive for the Andes virus, a member of the hantavirus family known for human-to-human transmission. The two were a Dutch woman, who died in Johannesburg, and a British man, who is currently in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.
Padilla said that on the 9th, a Ministry of Health working group will travel to the latest destination of the "Hondures" cruise ship, Tenerife Island in Spain’s North Atlantic. The cruise ship will not enter the port but will anchor offshore. Passengers will be transferred to the port by small boats and then take buses to the airport to board flights returning to their respective countries. Passengers come from a total of 23 countries.
The Spanish health authorities stated that the entire transfer area, vehicles, and relevant airport areas will be under closed management and isolated from the public. The 14 Spanish passengers are expected to be transferred to Madrid by military aircraft, and all have voluntarily agreed to be quarantined and observed at Gómez Ulla Military Hospital.