- by foxnews
- 13 May 2026
The cruise ship, which will anchor off the coast of Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday, will be followed shortly after by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word 'outbreak' and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest," Ghebreyesus wrote.
"The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment. But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another COVID-19. 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 continued.
Ghebreyesus claimed he would be personally visiting Tenerife, the Canary isle where passengers will arrive after evacuating the cruise ship.
The U.S. government is planning on further evacuating the American passengers to a military base in Nebraska for quarantine and monitoring, Fox News Digital previously reported.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the outbreak personally, telling reporters Friday, "We have very good people looking at it. It seems to be okay. They know the virus very well. They've worked with it for a long time. They know it very well. Not easy to pass on. So we hope that's true."
"Our American passengers, they're gonna be taken to Nebraska, to a center where they will be monitored. They will be isolated, they'll check their vital signs, their temperature, their oxygen level, their blood pressure," Dr. Janet Nesheiwat, a former Trump-tapped nominee for Surgeon General, told Fox News on Saturday.
"If they start to develop any symptoms, we can intervene early. Because as it is right now, there's no specific treatment for this virus other than supportive care, like oxygen, fluids, hydration, analgesics," she said.
Fox News Digital contacted the WHO and the CDC for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital's Brittany Miller contributed to this report.
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