After a 40-day voyage, and amid great international attention, the MV Hondius entered the port of Granadilla de Abona, on the Spanish island of Tenerife, at 6:00 a.m. this Sunday. On board the cruise ship were the 152 people who had endured an outbreak of the Andes variant of the hantavirus, the only known strain that can spread from human to human. Waiting on land were political authorities and more than 300 accredited journalists from 60 media outlets to report on an evacuation operation involving 23 countries. It also took place after days of internal political tension between Spain’s central government and regional authorities in the Canary Islands, who refused to let the ship dock in Tenerife citing public health concerns, but whose veto was overturned by an emergency measure that invoked the Ports Law. “Today is a day to speak of national pride,” stated Health Minister Mónica García. “It is also a source of pride for the people of the Canary Islands. We are not only prepared, but the World Health Organization is holding us up as an example.”Until Sunday afternoon, all passengers had been declared asymptomatic following a screening. But after disembarking, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that one of the five repatriated French citizens developed symptoms during the flight back to Paris. In a message on his X account, the prime minister stated that all five French passengers have been placed in isolation until further notice. In Spain, a woman who developed symptoms after sharing a flight in Johannesburg with one of the people who died from hantavirus remains in isolation at a hospital in Alicante. Her first PCR test, administered on Saturday, came back negative. Another asymptomatic woman who also boarded the same flight is in isolation at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. More than 90 people disembarked the ship in on Sunday. The operation is set to conclude on Monday with the departure and repatriation of the remaining passengers, who are bound for Australia and the Netherlands. A few crew members are also remaining behind to steer the ship back to the Netherlands. It was still pitch black when the MV Hondius docked. As the sky began to turn pink, drones, Civil Guard patrol boats, and a helicopter began circling the ship. At 9:40 a.m. local time, the evacuation began. The procedure was always the same: evacuees boarded a boat, there was a five-minute crossing to the port, a brief triage at the dock under white tents, and finally, a journey of just over 10 minutes to Tenerife South Airport aboard the two buses provided by the Military Emergency Unit (UME). The first to leave the ship were the 14 Spaniards, who are now in quarantine at Gómez Ulla Military Hospital in Madrid, where they will await the results of tests to confirm whether they are virus-free. “I welcomed them to Spain,” explained Minister García in one of the day’s news conferences. “The woman who acted as their spokesperson told us that they were very eager to arrive and that they are very grateful,” she added. The Gómez Ulla Hospital has activated its protocols for treating patients with infectious diseases, according to José García, a union representative at the hospital. Speaking outside the medical center, he explained that a “fairly open protocol” has been implemented to address any need that may arise. If passengers are asymptomatic, they will remain quarantined in a specific ward designated solely for them. If any of them develop symptoms, they will be transferred to the ward that was used to quarantine the 21 Spaniards repatriated from Wuhan in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Refueling and resupplyFollowing the Spanish passengers, French, Canadian, Dutch, British, Irish, and Turkish travelers disembarked as well. The last to walk out of the ship on Sunday were the U. S. citizens; there are 18 people bound for the U. S, CNN reported. The flight for Australian citizens is scheduled for Monday — their plane didn’t arrive at Tenerife South Airport on time on Sunday — as well as a second flight to the Netherlands carrying passengers of various nationalities. The Netherlands is partly responsible for these passengers because the cruise ship is Dutch-owned. On Monday morning, the ship will be refueled and resupplied in the same dock. Oceanwide, the company that operates the cruise ship, announced on Sunday that, after completing the passenger disembarkation, the ship would refuel in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a claim that has been categorically denied by the Port Health Authority. Once the operation is finished, the ship “will sail to the port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, with the remaining crew members on board,” the company reported. The estimated sailing time to the next port is approximately five days. The operation has received international recognition. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, highlighted from the port itself the leadership of Spain and Tenerife in managing the crisis. Speaking from the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV mentioned the Hondius in his Sunday prayer to express gratitude for the hospitality of the Canary Islands. A political clashBack in Spain, central authorities have tried to tiptoe around a high-profile political clash with the regional government of the Canary Islands, which had at first refused to let the ship dock, arguing that it should instead do so in Cape Verde, where the vessel was anchored, a three-day journey away from the Canary Islands. The ship had first requested authorization to dock in Cape Verde, a request that was denied. Shortly after midnight on Saturday, just hours before the ship’s scheduled arrival, the premier of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, sent the health minister a screenshot of a quick search using artificial intelligence. Underlined in the screenshot was the phrase: “Rats are excellent swimmers.” Clavijo was arguing that he could not authorize the Hondius to dock because there was a risk that rodents carrying hantavirus would jump off the ship, swim to shore, and infect the Canary Islanders. Ministry technicians responded with a report indicating that the natural reservoir of the Andes virus, the strain present on the Hondius, is not rats, but the Patagonian long-tailed mouse, which does not swim. Nevertheless, Clavijo announced that he would not authorize the ship to dock. At 1:12 a.m., the Director General of the Merchant Marine signed an administrative resolution invoking Article 299 of the Ports Law, which overturned Clavijo’s veto and mandated the ship’s entry. The Hondius entered Granadilla six hours later, and the operation continued. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition