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The regional government of Spain's Canary Islands is opposed to allowing a luxury cruise ship that has been hit by an outbreak of the deadly hantavirus to dock on the archipelago, its leader, Fernando Clavijo, said on Wednesday.
"This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety," Clavijo told radio station COPE.
He added that he had requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to discuss the issue. Clavijo leads a coalition with the conservative People's Party- the main opposition to Sanchez's Socialists.
Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish state broadcaster TVE reported the cruise ship was set to dock at the Canary island of Tenerife, citing sources from the country's health ministry. The ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
South Africa has identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which spreads human-to-human, in two people who came off a cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the disease, the health minister's presentation to parliament showed on Wednesday.
The ship, the MV Hondius, was preparing to travel from Cape Verde towards Europe on Wednesday after the Spanish government gave permission for it to dock in the Canary Islands.
The presentation seen by Reuters said tests done by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) revealed that the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg, and a British man who is still in hospital. Both had become ill on the ship.
"This is the only strain that is known to cause human to human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and as said earlier, only happens due to very close contact," it said.
Other strains of hantavirus are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.
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