“We are receiving information hour by hour, but at this moment the Directorate-General of Health (DGS) assesses the risk for residents in Portugal as very low, with no widespread transmission expected,” stated Ana Paula Martins, in a press conference after the Council of Ministers meeting.

According to the Minister, Portugal is monitoring the situation of the cruise ship outbreak, which has already caused three deaths, through the DGS, the national health authority, as well as international health authorities.

The Minister recalled that the World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) state that the risk to the general population of “spread of the Hondius cruise ship outbreak is very low”.

“All health authorities are in contact, and this is permanent,” the Minister assured.

On 6 May, the ECDC acknowledged that some passengers may have been exposed to the Andes strain of the virus in Argentina before boarding and may have transmitted it to other passengers already on board the cruise ship.

The MV Hondius left the vicinity of the port of Praia, Cape Verde, on Wednesday and is expected to arrive in the Canary Islands within two days. The people on board are expected to be evacuated and repatriated under the European Civil Protection Mechanism, according to the Spanish government.

The ship was travelling between Ushuaia, Argentina, and the Canary Islands throughout April, with stops in the South Atlantic for wildlife observation tourism.