The head of the World Health Organisation on Thursday published an open letter thanking the people of Tenerife for showing "moral courage" in accepting to help those aboard a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak to evacuate.
"On behalf of the World Health Organisation, on behalf of the passengers now home, and on behalf of those families around the world who watched this island with hope: thank you. From the depth of my heart, thank you," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in an open letter to the Tenerife population.
Amid international alarm over the rare outbreak of hantavirus, for which there are no vaccines or licensed treatments, Tenerife agreed to allow the MV Hondius to anchor last Sunday, enabling the evacuation of more than 120 people so they could be flown back to their home countries.
Three passengers from the Hondius cruise from Argentina to Cape Verde have died, while six others are confirmed to have Andes virus -- the only strain of hantavirus that can spread between people -- and two other cases are suspected, according to a count from official figures.
The central Spanish government had stressed that there would be no contact with the population on Tenerife -- the largest of its Canary Islands -- during the evacuation, which concluded Monday.
