The cruise ship struck by the rat-borne hantavirus is set to dock in Tenerife early Sunday, triggering a massive international evacuation operation. Spain's health minister Mónica García called it 'an unprecedented operation on an international scale' as infectious disease specialists prepare to disembark 147 people from the MV Hondius.

The Andes hantavirus outbreak has killed three passengers and sickened six others, with a fatality rate reaching 50%. The disease spread after a Dutch couple likely brought it from South America via rodent excreta. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus traveled to Tenerife to oversee the complex multi-country evacuation, complicated by the virus's eight-week incubation period.

Passengers will be repatriated by nationality - 14 Spaniards fly to Madrid for hospital quarantine, while British citizens head home for 45-day isolation. Americans will be flown to a Nebraska quarantine center. The ship's itinerary across remote Atlantic islands with limited medical facilities has complicated tracking efforts for those who disembarked earlier.

Health officials emphasize the public risk remains low since hantavirus requires close contact to spread. The average passenger age of 65 makes them particularly vulnerable. Despite comparisons to early Covid, WHO insists, though unease grows on Tenerife where port workers threaten to blockade the facility.