Hantavirus-hit cruise ship on way to Canary Islands after three evacuated

A British man is among three evacuees sent to the Netherlands after displaying symptoms while aboard the MV Hondius. 45 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Kathryn Armstrong Two people in a serious condition who were evacuated from a cruise ship with a confirmed outbreak of deadly hantavirus have arrived in the Netherlands for treatment, operator Oceanwide Expeditions has said. The MV Hondius is now sailing towards Spain's Canary Islands after being anchored for three days near Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast. The three evacuees were British, Dutch and German. Oceanwide Expeditions said the 65-year-old German evacuee was "closely associated" with a German woman who died on board the ship on 2 May.

Three people who were aboard the ship have died since it set sail from Argentina a month ago. Georgia's public health department said two residents were being monitored and were in good health, showing no signs of infection. Arizona's health department said one resident was being monitored, but was not symptomatic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also confirmed a man who had travelled back to Switzerland after disembarking the ship tested positive for hantavirus and is receiving care at a hospital in Zurich. "The patient had responded to an email from the ship's operator informing the passengers of the health event," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

A total of 146 people from 23 different countries remain aboard the MV Hondius under "strict precautionary measures", Oceanwide Expeditions said. In its latest update, the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight cases of hantavirus - three confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on the ship. The three deaths on board include a Dutch woman who left the MV Hondius when it stopped at the island of St Helena on 24 April. Her husband died on board on 11 April, but is not a confirmed case. The Dutch woman travelled to South Africa, where she died on 26 April.

WHO official Dr Maria Van Kerkhove told the BBC that health experts were carrying out contact tracing on the flight she took. The third fatality - a German woman - is not a confirmed case either. Her body remains on the ship. None of the three people who were medically evacuated on Wednesday have tested positive for hantavirus so far, but two are showing symptoms. It comes as the UK's Health Security Agency said two British people were self-isolating at home in the UK after potential exposure to the virus on the ship .

Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents, but health experts believe that in this case, it may have passed between humans who were in close contact. Testing to confirm whether other people on the ship have contracted the virus is ongoing. The vessel had been anchored near Cape Verde before it set off towards the Canary Islands on Wednesday. Spain Health Cruise ships Canary Islands Cape Verde A British man is among three evacuees sent to the Netherlands after displaying symptoms while aboard the MV Hondius. Hantavirus-hit cruise ship on way to Canary Islands after three evacuated