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Spanish government sets out plans for virus-hit cruise passengers
We are now hearing a bit more from the Spanish authorities, as they say that all passengers remaining on the cruise are currently asymptomatic.
The plan appears to be that after the cruise arrives in Tenerife, all non-Spanish passengers will be repatriated to their countries, while the Spanish passengers will be taken to a military hospital in Madrid for quarantine.
Key events
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Air evacuations from Cape Verde to Europe – in pictures
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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy accusses Russia of ceasefire violations, hints at ‘opportunities’ for strikes at Russia pivots to protect Moscow
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Virus-hit cruise expected in Canary Islands ‘within three days,’ minister says
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Germany’s Merz marks first anniversary in office with ‘compounding emergencies’ and spat with Trump
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Spanish government sets out plans for virus-hit cruise passengers
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Hantavirus-hit cruise requests to dock at Tenerife on Saturday, but local government remains opposed
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Evacuation of three people from hantavirus-hit cruise – in pictures
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Overall public health risk remains low, WHO chief insists, as three evacuated from virus-hit ship
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Brit among three people evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship, Dutch ministry confirms
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German tourist to be evacuated from ship to Düsseldorf for treatment, Bild reports
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Three suspected hantavirus cases evacuated from virus-hit cruise ship, WHO confirms
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Two specialist doctors set to join hantavirus-hit ship, operator says
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Hungary’s Magyar to meet with Italy’s Meloni tomorrow
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Transfer of three passengers expected Wednesday morning, ship operator says
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Three people being evacuated from hantavirus-hit ship, WHO says
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South Africa confirms Andes strain of hantavirus in two cases linked to cruise ship hit by outbreak
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Europe needs to spend 5% on defence by 2030 or ‘it may be too late,’ Poland’s defence minister warns
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One person infected with hantavirus treated in Zurich, Swiss government says
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Canary Islands government rejects hantavirus-hit cruise plans to dock there
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Morning opening: Spain’s Sánchez v Trump
Air evacuations from Cape Verde to Europe – in pictures
Back to the virus-hit cruise ship, we are now getting first pictures of air ambulances leaving the Nelson Mandela International Airport on Cape Verde after the earlier evacuation of three people from the cruise.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy accusses Russia of ceasefire violations, hints at ‘opportunities’ for strikes at Russia pivots to protect Moscow
In other news, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russia committed multiple violations of the ceasefire proposed by Kyiv, with 1,820 (!) incidents involving “shelling, attempted assaults, airstrikes, and the use of drones.”
Ukraine had suggested a ceasefire, starting last night, in response to the Russian calls for a brief truce during its planned Victory Parade in Moscow over the weekend.
But Zelenskyy pointed out that Russia was clearly not willing to engage with a real, longer suspension of hostilities.
“Ukraine clearly stated that it would act in kind, taking into account Russia’s persistent appeals through the media and social networks asking for a ceasefire during the Moscow parade,” he said.
And in the last few minutes, Zelenskyy implied that Kyiv could have a surprise or two in store for Russia as Moscow diverts resources to the protect the parade.
He said:
“We see that in recent weeks, additional rings of air defence have been built up around Moscow at the expense of a large-scale redeployment of systems from Russia’s regions. This indicates that the Russian leadership is not preparing for the ceasefire that has been the subject of so many statements, and is more concerned about its parade in Moscow than about the rest of Russia. At the same time, we observe that this creates additional opportunities for our long-range [attacks]. We will define our corresponding priorities.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would decide next steps later tonight.
Virus-hit cruise expected in Canary Islands ‘within three days,’ minister says
Let’s bring you more lines from the Spanish ministers and their press conference on the virus-hit cruise earlier (14:17).
The ship is expected at Granadilla on the island of Tenerife “within three days,” and there will be a system for assessing the passengers and progressing their repatriation back to countries of origin, they said.
“A joint system for health assessment and evacuation will be put in place to repatriate all passengers, unless their medical condition prevents it,” health minister Monica Garcia Gomez told a Madrid news conference.
The 14 Spanish nationals – including one crew member – on board the MV Hondius will be transferred to Madrid’s Gomez Ulla military hospital, she added.
García said the government was monitoring the international alert “minute by minute” to take all steps to prevent any potential spread of the virus, AFP reported.
The health minister also responded to the local government’s criticism of the plan (9:53, 14:02), saying she had been in “constant contact” with its head, Fernando Clavijo, and he would be involved in all relevant planning.
Germany’s Merz marks first anniversary in office with ‘compounding emergencies’ and spat with Trump
German chancellor Friedrich Merz is marking his first anniversary in the job today (cue cute LinkedIn posts), and the jury is, erm, very much still out on whether he could be the man to save Germany, as many some hoped at the time of his election.
Describing Merz’s current position, the chancellor’s biographer Daniel Goffard said somewhat bluntly that “the cart is certainly stuck in the mud.”
Our Berlin correspondent Deborah Cole said his words nicely summed up a sense of strategic helplessness by the government in the face of compounding emergencies and intractable conflicts at home and abroad.
As she noted, a recent survey for US-based opinion research institute Morning Consult found Merz to have the second-lowest approval rating of 24 democratically elected world leaders, with just 19% of Germans saying they are satisfied with his work.
On top of that, he is currently trapped in a bitter spat with the US president, Donald Trump, after Merz said on 27 April that Iran was “humiliating” Washington at the negotiating table.
That provoked a series of angry responses from Washington, including Trump’s comments that Merz was doing a “terrible” job as chancellor – and a decision to pull out 5,000 US troops from the country.
In an interview with ZDF, released today, Merz was specifically asked about his relations with the US president, Donald Trump.
Merz said that he “continues to strive for a good transatlantic relationship, even if we have different opinions” on Iran, stressing he’s not afraid to say when he disagrees with Trump, like on Ukraine.
“We speak on the phone regularly, but a good partnership also involves differences of opinion,” he said.
Responding to a suggestion that the relationship in which Trump regularly harshly criticises him online is far from good, he said:
We have disagreements, but I can live with that.
He added that he would “continue to speak my mind in the future,” and “talk it over” with the US president.
Merz was keen to highlight that Germany was doing a lot to increase its defence spending, including last year’s change to its constitution – and “take on a leadership responsibility” within Nato.
It’s also a great moment to remind you of this brilliant – and hilarious – piece from our European culture editor Philip Oltermann on similarities between the lead character of the German sitcom inspired by “The Office” and Merz (which kind of ruined him for me, I’m afraid, so be warned – you will never look at him in the same way again.)
Spanish government sets out plans for virus-hit cruise passengers
We are now hearing a bit more from the Spanish authorities, as they say that all passengers remaining on the cruise are currently asymptomatic.
The plan appears to be that after the cruise arrives in Tenerife, all non-Spanish passengers will be repatriated to their countries, while the Spanish passengers will be taken to a military hospital in Madrid for quarantine.
Hantavirus-hit cruise requests to dock at Tenerife on Saturday, but local government remains opposed
The operator of the luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has requested to dock at the Spanish port of Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife on Saturday, the Canary Islands’ regional leader, Fernando Clavijo, told reporters in comments reported by Reuters.
He has previously said the regional government was opposed to Madrid’s decision to receive the ship (9:53), and going by the comments reported by the BBC, he is still very much not convinced.
“If the passengers are safe and healthy, it does not make sense that they have to come to the Canary Islands to be repatriated, they could do that from the international airport of Cape Verde,” he said, according to the BBC.
Reuters spoke to someone who is on the cruise ship, getting an update on how they all feel there in this highly unusual situation.
Kasem Hato told Reuters the ship’s captain was keeping passengers updated and that those on board had been advised to limit close contact with other passengers and use hand sanitizer regularly.
“People are taking the situation seriously but without any panic, trying to keep social distancing and wearing masks to be safe,” he said.
“Our days have been close to normal, just waiting for authorities to find a solution, but morale on the ship is high and we’re keeping ourselves busy with reading, watching movies, having hot drinks, and that kind of things.“
Evacuation of three people from hantavirus-hit cruise – in pictures
Overall public health risk remains low, WHO chief insists, as three evacuated from virus-hit ship
The director-general of the World Health Organisaion, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has just offered a bit more detail about the medical evacuation of the three people hit by the virus, as he insisted “the overall public health risk remains low.”
In a post on X, he said the three people were “on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands,” as part of the WHO’s mission with the ship’s operator and national authorities in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, and Cabo Verde.
“WHO continues to work with the ship’s operators to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew, working with countries to support appropriate medical follow-up and evacuation where needed,” the WHO’s chief said.
“Monitoring and follow-up for passengers on board and for those who have already disembarked has been initiated in collaboration with the ship’s operators and national health authorities. WHO thanks all those involved. At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low.”
Brit among three people evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship, Dutch ministry confirms
The Dutch foreign ministry has just confirmed the nationalities of the three people evacuated from the ship, as confirmed by WHO, and they Dutch, British, and German citizens, Reuters reported.
German tourist to be evacuated from ship to Düsseldorf for treatment, Bild reports
We are getting more news about the hantavirus-hit cruise ship, with the German newspaper Bild now reporting that a German woman will be evacuated from the ship and brought to the German city of Düsseldorf for treatment.
She is believed to be one of the three people mentioned by the WHO in their report, and a close relative of one of the people who died from the virus, the paper said.
Three suspected hantavirus cases evacuated from virus-hit cruise ship, WHO confirms
Oh, that was much faster than expected: the World Health Organization has just confirmed that the three suspected hantavirus cases have been evacuated from the ship and are on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands.
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