The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that more cases of hantavirus are expected in the coming days.

MADRID (AFP).- The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated on Tuesday that "the work is not finished" following the evacuation of most of the passengers and crew from the MV Hondius cruise ship, which was affected by hantavirus, and urged countries to follow the organization's recommendations. "There are no indications that we are facing the beginning of a larger outbreak. However, of course, the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, we may see more cases in the coming weeks," he said at a press conference in Madrid, alongside the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez. Both spoke from the presidential palace in Moncloa, a day after the operation to repatriate more than 120 passengers and crew members from a score of countries from the Hondius, which is now heading to its base in the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, was completed. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, regarding the "safety protocols" for hantavirus, a rare and contagious disease for which there is no vaccine, "of course, the WHO has clear guidelines, and we expect countries to follow them," Ghebreyesus said. However, he admitted that countries have "sovereignty" and "we cannot force them to adopt our protocols." "The WHO's recommendation is that (the evacuated individuals) be monitored actively, in a designated quarantine center or at their home, for 42 days from the last exposure, which was May 10th, leading to June 21st," he detailed. He also addressed concerns from those who opposed allowing passengers to disembark on the Canary Islands due to the possibility of spreading infections. "I perfectly understand that the population of Tenerife may have felt concerned about the disembarkation on their shores," he said. But "the risk is low, both for the population of Tenerife and on a global scale," he added, assuring that the situation is being "taken very seriously." On the other hand, President Sánchez congratulated him on the "success" of the operation in Tenerife. "The world does not need more selfishness, nor more fear, what it needs are solidarity-based countries that want to step forward," he said, defending his decision to welcome the Hondius. Passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, affected by hantavirus, make a gesture from a military bus after disembarking at the port of Granadilla de Abona, on the island of Tenerife. (JORGE GUERRERO - AFP) "We have heard many public officials wondering why the African country of Cabo Verde was not hosting the operation," Sánchez said, adding: "But we were clear that the question was not that, that the correct question was another (...) Why are we not going to help those who need it if it is within our power to do so?" The Hondius, which drew the world's attention after the death of three of its passengers, is expected to arrive in the Netherlands over the weekend. Meanwhile, one of the fourteen Spanish citizens evacuated from the cruise ship, who are under strict isolation at the Gómez Ulla Defense Hospital in Madrid, tested provisionally positive for hantavirus in their first PCR test. The Spanish passengers arrived at the military medical center on Sunday afternoon after disembarking at the port of Granadilla de Abona in Tenerife. From there, a medical aircraft from the Armed Forces transported them to the Torrejón de Ardoz air base in Madrid, where they boarded buses escorted by security forces for their final admission to the hospital. There are 121 evacuees in quarantine in different countries, and so far, four of them are infected. These include a Spaniard, a French woman whose condition worsened, and two US citizens, one with a positive asymptomatic result and another with mild symptoms. Aboard the cruise ship, which began its journey with 175 people, there was only one Argentine citizen who did not show any signs of infection and has already been evacuated. In addition, there are eight passengers hospitalized in health centers in Johannesburg, Zurich, Düsseldorf, Paris, the United States, and the Netherlands, who were evacuated from the ship between the islands of Santa Elena, Cabo Verde, and the Canary Islands. The strain detected among the infected is the Andes strain, the only one that can be transmitted from person to person after contact with the long-tailed mouse, which eliminates the virus through urine, feces, and saliva.