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First plane carrying passengers evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship leaves Tenerife – Europe live | Hantavirus
First plane carrying passengers evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship has left Tenerife
We have some updates from Tenerife, where a small group of Spanish passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius cruise ship has reportedly left on a plane for the Gómez Ulla Central Defense hospital in Madrid. They will be under quarantine when they reach Madrid.
Key events
Sky News is reporting that 20 British nationals who were passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship will fly back to the UK today from Tenerife. Two further people – who are dual nationals – will get on separate repatriation flights to other countries, the outlet reported.
As we have previously mentioned, the MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife on Sunday morning, with Spanish authorities beginning evacuations of the ship by nationality.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said earlier that 22 British passengers and crew will be transferred to an isolation facility at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, after being repatriated to the UK on a chartered flight.
Over in the UK, British prime minister Keir Starmer’s premiership looks like it could be on the verge of collapsing next week as pressure grows on him to step down after Labour suffered heavy losses in historic local elections. You can keep up with the latest developments in our UK politics live blog:
Robyn Vinter
Robyn Vinter is north of England correspondent at the Guardian, currently in Tenerife
A press conference has just finished at the Tenerife port of Granadilla with Javier Padilla, the Spanish secretary of state for health, in which he explained the process for those leaving the ship.
Doctors have been taking the temperature of everyone on the vessel and filling out a health survey designed to identify hantavirus symptoms.
They are given plastic ponchos, face and hair coverings, and are taken in small groups from the ship to the dock, where they board coaches that take them to the airport, about a 10-minute drive away.
They are allowed to take small bags of personal items with them and the rest of their luggage will be left on the cruise ship and taken to the Netherlands for decontamination.
He said the UK and US had asked for further testing on board the MV Hondius, which was refused, but the countries were told they could test passengers on the plane as soon as it leaves the airport.
Countries are carrying out their own health checks, which for some, like the UK and Spain, involves PCR testing. He said the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) were “trying to achieve a certain degree of coordination, and not a high variation among the different countries”.
“But every country has its own confidences.”
When asked about countries, such as the US, choosing not to impose mandatory quarantine on its citizens coming off the ship, he said it was up to those countries to take what they think is the best action, however, “I don’t think it’s best practice from a clinical point of view.”
He said 6 May was being treated as the last contact date.
The next passengers to leave are from the UK, France, Canada, the Netherlands. This afternoon passengers from Turkey, Ireland, and the US are expected to depart.
British paratroopers lead airdrop onto Tristan da Cunha for suspected hantavirus case
British paratroopers have dropped on to Britain’s most remote overseas territory, Tristan da Cunha, along with medics and medical supplies, after a case of suspected hantavirus was confirmed there, Reuters reports.
A team of six paratroopers and two military clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade jumped from an RAF A400M transport aircraft that flew 6,788 km (4,218 miles) from RAF Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire to Ascension Island then another 3,000 km due south to Tristan da Cunha.
Dropped alongside them on Saturday were oxygen supplies and other medical aid. The A400M was refuelled mid-flight by a supporting RAF Voyager.
The operation is the first time the UK military has deployed medical personnel to provide humanitarian support via a parachute jump, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The supplies were primarily destined for a British man who UK health authorities say was a passenger on the cruise ship that was hit by a hantavirus outbreak and which docked at the island between 13 April and 15. The WHO said the man reported symptoms compatible with hantavirus on 28 April and that he is stable and in isolation.
“With oxygen supplies on the island at a critical level, an airdrop with medical personnel was the only method of getting vital care to the patient in time,” the Ministry of Defence statement said.
Tristan da Cunha, home to only around 200 people, is halfway between South Africa and South America. It is the world’s remotest inhabited island, more than 2,400 km and a six-day boat ride from St Helena, its nearest inhabited neighbour. It usually relies on a medical team of two people for its health needs, and is normally only accessible by boat as it has no airstrip.
Ship to make further stop in Tenerife before heading to Rotterdam, says operator
The operator of the MV Hondius, Oceanwide Expeditions, has given an update on the plan for the ship after the evacuation operation is complete.
In statement the operator said after all guests and limited crew have disembarked, MV Hondius will take on necessary supplies at Santa Cruz, Tenerife before transiting to the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands with the remaining crew members aboard.
The expected sailing time to Rotterdam is about 5 days.
Angelique Chrisafis
Angelique Chrisafis is the Guardian’s Paris correspondent
Five French passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship have boarded a special medical flight from Tenerife and are en route to Paris. The flight took off from Tenerife at around noon local time.
Nicolas Pillerel of the French embassy in Spain was present in Tenerife to oversee logistics. He told the French public broadcaster FranceInfo that the foreign office crisis centre had organised a special flight with medical staff on board to transport the five people to an airport in the Paris area.
The five cruise-ship passengers would then be hospitalised for 72 hours for tests and monitoring, in line with World Health Organisation guidelines.
After this, the five people would return to their homes in France where they would have to isolate for 45 days under strict monitoring and controls by French health authorities.
The French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has called a special meeting of ministers and health officials in Paris this afternoon to discuss the situation.
First plane carrying passengers evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship has left Tenerife
We have some updates from Tenerife, where a small group of Spanish passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius cruise ship has reportedly left on a plane for the Gómez Ulla Central Defense hospital in Madrid. They will be under quarantine when they reach Madrid.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that he thought Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was coming to an end (see this story for more detail).
“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters after a scaled-back military parade in Moscow commemorating the Soviet victory in World War Two, referring to the “special military operation” (war) in Ukraine.
Putin indicated that he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, saying his preferred negotiating partner would be Gerhard Schröder, who was German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, and has a background of being a close friend and ally of Putin, and history of business ties to Russia.
Germany has now responded to Putin’s suggestion, with an official telling the Reuters news agency on Sunday that the offer was not credible because Russia had not changed any of its conditions, adding that an initial test would be whether Moscow was willing to extend the three-day ceasefire that expires tomorrow. The official said Putin had made a series of unserious offers aimed at dividing the western alliance.
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said recently that a planned deployment of US long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany – announced by the former US president Joe Biden – was being called off, at least for the time being.
Merz’s criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran – and his suggestion that the US had been “humiliated” by Iranian negotiators – has angered Donald Trump, causing relations between Berlin and Washington to slump to a low point.
Pentagon officials are alarmed at the fact the US military fired over 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first four weeks of war on Iran, according to the Washington Post.
The rapid rate of use prompted internal discussions about how to make more of the missiles available, sources told the US outlet.
Germany revives effort to buy US Tomahawks – report
Germany is reviving efforts to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US, the Financial Times is reporting.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius is reportedly planning a trip to Washington to revive Germany’s offer to buy long-range systems, which was first submitted last July. The US is yet to respond to this offer.
The visit, however, hinges upon whether Pistorius can secure a meeting with Pete Hegseth, his US counterpart, the FT reports. “The key thing is to have the strike capabilities in Europe,” a “government insider” told the newspaper.
Tomahawk land attack missiles, first used in combat in 1991, are long-range, guided cruise missiles typically launched from sea to attack targets in deep-strike missions.
There are no European ground-launched long-range systems immediately available, according to the FT report. So the Tomahawk missiles, along with the mobile Typhon launchers Germany also reportedly wants to buy from the US, would allow the German armed forces to hit targets hundreds of kilometres deep into enemy territory if necessary.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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