A second Estrella vessel came alongside the Moll Gran on Thursday morning carrying a confirmed case of hantavirus, and by noon the Port Sanitation Council was in its third emergency session of the week. The MV Estrella de Poniente was met by port physicians before her gangways were rigged; seven passengers have been identified as close contacts and are under observation at the Sant Miquel Clinic, and one has been moved to an isolation ward as a precaution.

Dr. Lourdes Castany, the port physician of record, confirmed the figures in a written note to the Council. The Ministry of Health's evening communiqué stressed that there is no evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission and urged the public to remain calm — a formula that reads more plainly now than it did on Monday, when the Estrella de Llevant was still at berth seven and the three dead of the boarding team had not yet been named.

The Cardenal's office issued a statement praising the 'swift and measured' response of the port authorities. It is the third such statement this week from the Primate's secretariat, and the language, again, is drafted: measure, swiftness, the patience of the sea. Sunday's intercessions at Sant Joan will now include the contacts of the Poniente alongside the eleven of the Passeig, the three of the Llevant and the three correspondents.

The Council's preliminary report, long expected before Monday's fuel vote, will now have to accommodate a second vessel and a second cluster. Two members of the Council told the Herald that the document will be delivered on Sunday evening regardless, and that the Estrella de Poniente's passenger manifest — 1,420 souls, by Harbour Authority count — will be screened in full before the ship is cleared to sail.