Hantavirus-hit cruise ship evacuates 3 passengers, expected to head next to Spain

(Reuters)

JOHANNESBURG, May 6 – Three people, two of them seriously ill, were ​evacuated on Wednesday from a luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and marooned for days off the coast of Cape Verde, the World Health Organisation ‌said.

The MV Hondius, which has nearly 150 people on board, is expected to head next to Spain’s Canary Islands, ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said. Three people have so far died in the outbreak.

South Africa confirmed that it had identified among the victims the Andean strain of the virus that can – in rare cases – spread among humans. Since the start of the outbreak, the WHO has said the risk to the wider public is low, and it stressed that ​this continued to be the case.

The Swiss government said a man who returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the Hondius was infected with the hantavirus and was ​being treated in Zurich. It said there was no danger to the broader population.