Spain has done well in the hantavirus crisis

What do the WHO, the UN, the European Commission and the European Council have in common? May all of them They have publicly congratulated Spain for the management of the hantavirus crisis. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus He has described her as “the role model”.

Tough to the “mission accomplished” of Minister Mónica Garcíait’s not all over yet. However, there are enough facts already accomplished to recognize that in this mess Spain has not only done what had to be done, but has also done it well.

An epidemiological bomb. When the Dutch ship MV Hondius set sail from Usuaia on April 1, 2026, it did not know the chaos that was about to be generated in half the world. The figures speak for themselves: 147 people were on board (88 passengers and 59 crew members of 23 different nationalities) and, as the days went by, the outbreak generated three deaths, (at least) 10 confirmed cases and 125 people evacuated thanks to an international operation coordinated from the Tenerife port of Granadilla.

That’s where Spain comes in.

An ethical success. Does it make sense for us to talk about ‘technical success’ in a context in which everything (absolutely everything) tends towards almost instantaneous politicization? Well, there are three things that allow us to see it like this:

• The international contrast: we must not forget that Spain assumed leadership of the operation after Cape Verde recognized that it did not have the capacity to carry out the evacuation nor that the Radboudumc university hospital in the Netherlands has had to quarantine 12 health workers for two consecutive biosafety failures. In contrast, Spain has executed the operation perfectly and, as far as we know, everything has gone according to plans and protocols.
• The social climate. Despite the initial refusal of the Government of the Canary Islands, Clavijo’s unscientific vaudeville and localized (and reasonable) protests by some unions, the operation was finally imposed through International Maritime Law (obligation to provide relief) after the formal request of the WHO.
• The relative complexity. It is not a minor issue, because organizing 10 special medical flights, coordinating biosafety protocols with 19 different countries and articulating a landing of these characteristics in rough sea conditions is complex. Above all, because everyone was watching and any failure had the potential to become a media circus.

Is it all good news? Of course not. Whether we buy the terminology or not, the Canary Islands are right to complain that the Spanish Government has approached the matter with certain ‘colonial’ touches. Although finally, faced with the unfeasible demands of the Cabildo and the Autonomous Government, it was cut short; The truth is that the country’s institutional architecture requires a more respectful approach to competencies (or, failing that, designing a clear exception protocol for public health emergencies).

What’s left to do? A lot. After all, there are many days of active surveillance left. The 45 days of incubation of the virus make epidemiological tracking very complex and the positives that have occurred after the evacuation only confirm this point.

And beyond all that, a deeper debate remains pending on zoonotic exposure in scientific and tourist trips in endemic areas. We have turned the world into an amusement park and we are not aware of the risks.

A few days ago we were talking about how the unlikely combination of an African bird, an American plant and an Asian plant had created a new habitat on the peninsula that was putting Valencian citrus trees in trouble. These “coincidences” occur in thousands every day and are, by their very nature, unpredictable.

That is the world we face. For that reason, it is good news that everything has worked reasonably well.

Image | Ministry of Health

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