Major update on doctor infected by hantavirus aboard MV Hondias
The British national suspected of being infected with hantavirus aboard MV Hondais has gone from critical to stable condition, according to health leaders
The British citizen identified as the MV Hondais' on board doctor is no longer in critical condition after suspected hantavirus contraction(Image: AP)
A British doctor who was aboard the luxury cruise ship that was impacted by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is no longer in critical condition, according to updates from health leaders.
Spanish health minister Monica Garcia provided an update about the British national, 56, identified as the ship's doctor, who was flown to the Netherlands to receive medical treatment alongside two others who were suspected to be infected with the deadly rodent-borne virus. Garcia confirmed that the doctor's condition shifted from "critical" to "stable."
The cruise ship's operator, Oceanwide, said in a statement that two of the three patients being sent to the Netherlands are "symptomatic" and in "serious condition."
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The British doctor is currently asymptomatic and was "closely associated" with the German citizen who died onboard the ship on May 2, according to Oceanwide.
Furthermore, the ship will dock in the Canary Islands despite strong pushback from its leader, Fernando Clavijo, who had previously blocked suggestions for it to dock in Tenerife. Clavijo had raised concerns that there was not “sufficient information” to guarantee public safety.
The British doctor is currently asymptomatic and was "closely associated" with the German citizen who died onboard the ship on May 2(Image: ELTON MONTEIRO/EPA/Shutterstock)
Garcia said that health officials had been in contact with the president and other leaders of the Canary Islands.
Garcia said during the press conference that all passengers remaining on the ship are currently exhibiting no symptoms of the virus and will be evacuated once they dock in Tenerife.
Garcia emphasized that the passengers posed "no risk" to Canary Island citizens and that the protocol would "avoid contact" with them.
Spanish citizens will quarantine on a Madrid military base, and people from other countries will be repatriated if they have no symptoms. There are 14 Spanish citizens aboard the ship.
The World Health Organization stated that eight suspected cases of hantavirus have been linked to the ship. Global health leaders believe the suspected outbreak may be spread between passengers- a very rare occurrence as human-to-human transmission is not common.
South Africa’s health ministry also confirmed on Wednesday that the two passengers tested within the country have the Andes strain of the virus, which, though rare, has been known to be transmissible between humans.
Swiss officials confirmed one case is being treated in Zurich.
The World Health Organization's director general issued a statement to X that at this stage, the overall public health risk remains low.
So far, a Dutch passenger lost their life aboard the vessel on April 11, followed by the death of the initial patient's wife on April 27, with authorities confirming a variant of hantavirus. Subsequently, a German passenger passed away on May 2, though the cause remains unconfirmed
My Future Mother-in-Law Destroyed My Dead Mother’s Wedding Dress—Then One Whisper at the Altar Exposed Why She Needed Me to Run
Three hours before the wedding, my future mother-in-law ruined my wedding dress and left a note with just four words: "Know your place." She thought I would cry, run away, and become a laughingstock in front of 200 guests. But what silenced the entire wedding wasn't the soiled dress... it was what I whispered to the groom as we stood at the altar.
Three hours before my wedding, I found my dress floating in a bathtub full of red wine, black coffee, and something that smelled like bleach. Pinned to the ruined lace was a cream card in my future mother-in-law’s handwriting: Know your place.
For ten seconds, I couldn’t breathe.
The dress had belonged to my mother. She had worn it in 1989, and before she died, she spent six months restoring it with me—replacing pearls, repairing the train, sewing one tiny blue thread beneath the hem because she said every bride deserved one secret no one else could see.
Now the silk was pink-brown, the lace eaten through, and one sleeve had dissolved into threads.
Behind me, my maid of honor, Tessa, whispered, “Oh my God, Claire.”
I didn’t cry.
That was the first thing Evelyn Harrow got wrong.
The second was believing I didn’t know exactly why she hated me.
To Evelyn, I was “the scholarship girl” who had somehow trapped her only son, Adrian. She introduced me as “an accountant” with the same tone people used for dental plaque. At engagement dinners, she corrected my pronunciation of French wines I had never ordered and once asked whether my family “understood formal cutlery.”
She never mentioned that I was a forensic accountant specializing in family-owned companies, or that I had spent the last six months quietly helping Adrian review irregularities inside Harrow Hospitality after his father’s stroke.
Evelyn thought money made her untouchable.
She also thought Adrian knew nothing.
Tessa picked up the note with shaking fingers. “Call him. Cancel everything.”
“No.”
“Claire, she destroyed your mother’s dress.”
“I know.”
My voice sounded strangely calm.
I photographed the bathtub, the note, the hallway, the broken lock on the bridal suite, and the tiny security sensor above the service door. Then I called hotel security.
The manager arrived pale-faced.
“Mrs. Harrow requested that camera be disabled this morning,” he admitted.
Of course she had.
But Evelyn didn’t know I had installed my own battery-powered camera in the dress case after someone searched my apartment two weeks earlier.
I opened the app.
There she was.
Evelyn entered at 9:14 a.m., locked the door, poured three bottles over the gown, smiled at the camera she thought was d:ead, and placed the note on top.
Then she made a phone call.
“Once she runs,” Evelyn said, laughing, “Adrian will finally sign the amended trust papers.”
I froze the video.
Tessa stared at me. “What amended trust papers?”
I looked toward the chapel doors, where two hundred guests were waiting to watch me become a Harrow.
For the first time that morning, I almost smiled.
“The reason this wedding was never just about me.”...
To be continued in C0mments 👇
