Three people with suspected hantavirus, including a British crew member, have been medically evacuated from the cruise ship linked to an outbreak of the virus, the World Health Organisation has said. All three were rescued from the MV Hondius and are on their way to the Netherlands.
The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that three patients with suspected hantavirus cases have been evacuated from an affected cruise ship and are on their way to the Netherlands. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency is working with the operators of the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew. "At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low," he wrote on his X account.
The cruise ship, which is stuck off the coast of Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board, was waiting on Wednesday to head to Spain's Canary Islands.
Meanwhile, health authorities in South Africa and Switzerland identified a strain of the virus that can be transmitted between humans in rare cases in three cases.
Authorities in Switzerland announced Wednesday that a man who returned from South America and traveled on the cruise ship has tested positive for the virus and is receiving treatment.
Three passengers have died and at least five people have been sickened by hantavirus on board the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship. Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings. There have been three laboratory-confirmed cases.
The ship left Argentina on April 1 on an Atlantic cruise and was scheduled to include stops in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and other locations.
However, the itinerary may have changed because of the situation on board.
Spain's Health Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday that it would receive the MV Hondius vessel in the Canary Islands after a request from the World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
But for now it remains marooned off the coast of Cape Verde, an island nation off West Africa in the Atlantic. The World Health Organization said passengers are isolating in their cabins.
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