We’ve got some more to bring you now from Spain, where the secretary of state for health Javier Padilla has been updating the media.
Also speaking was head of emergency services Virginia Barcones, who said the cruise ship heading to Tenerife will likely “automatically continue” to the Netherlands with 30 crew members.
That’s after the passengers have been taken from the ship off the coast of Tenerife, where small boats will transport them to land.
Once they are off, they will be taken “directly to the airport tarmac” to board planes.
Anyone showing symptoms will be taken on special medical planes. Those who do not show symptoms will be taken on separate flights, with no passengers who weren’t also on the ship.
Seeking to calm worries – with protesters already gathering in Tenerife (see 12:27) – Barcones insisted that passengers will have “no contact” with the people of the Canary Islands.
Spain reports suspected case in Alicante
In comments carried by Spanish newspaper El Pais, the country’s health ministry has reported a suspected hantavirus case in Alicante.
Javier Padilla, the secretary of state for health, said a woman may be infected.
She was a passenger on the same plane as the patient who died in South Africa after travelling on the cruise ship and catching the virus.
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