Three people with suspected hantavirus, including a British doctor who is a crew member, have been medically evacuated from a cruise ship.
The 56-year-old Briton, along with a Dutch colleague aged 41 and a 65-year-old German, were taken from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius for onward travel to the Netherlands, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Spanish health officials said the British medic was in a more stable condition, having previously been in a critical condition.
The WHO said there are eight cases, five of them confirmed.
The evacuation means the ship, with close to 150 people onboard, can now continue on its three-day journey to the Canary Islands after Spanish authorities gave permission for the vessel to dock. But a row has erupted, with the president of the Canary Islands expressing concern over the ship docking in Tenerife.
The ship was anchored off Cape Verde while arrangements were put in place to evacuate the crew members but on Wednesday evening, it was reported that the ship had left Cape Verde and was on its way to the Canary Islands.
A person in a hazmat suit is escorted to an ambulance from a medical aircraft carrying evacuees from the MV Hondius at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam. Photograph: Lina Selg/AFP/Getty Images
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, posted on X: “Three suspected hantavirus case patients have just been evacuated from the ship and are on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands in coordination with WHO, the ship’s operator and national authorities from Cabo Verde, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands.
“WHO continues to work with the ship’s operators to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew, working with countries to support appropriate medical follow-up and evacuation where needed.
“Monitoring and follow-up for passengers onboard and for those who have already disembarked has been initiated in collaboration with the ship’s operators and national health authorities. At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low.”
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A Dutch couple and a German national who had been on the ship have died.
The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the UK had been working with other countries to facilitate evacuations and Foreign Office staff were in direct contact with British nationals onboard.
“The Foreign Office is working urgently to support the UKHSA’s [UK Health Security Agency’s] work overseas and to make sure British nationals on the MV Hondius can all get safely home with proper protection for public health,” she said.
Two people who returned to the UK independently, having been on board the ship have been advised to isolate, the UKHSA said.
“Neither of these individuals is currently reporting symptoms. They are receiving advice and support from UKHSA and have been advised to self-isolate,” it added.
The health authority said that it is also helping to trace people who may have been on the same flight as a confirmed case and that once the ship docks in Tenerife, the remaining British nationals on board can be sent home if they do not develop symptoms.
“None of the British citizens on board are currently reporting symptoms but they are being closely monitored,” the UKHSA said in a statement.
It stressed that the risk to the general public “remains very low”.
Authorities in Switzerland also said a former passenger who tested positive was being treated at a Zurich hospital.
The passenger had left the ship at Saint Helena and it was unclear how he had travelled to Switzerland or which countries he might have passed through. Swiss authorities insisted there was “no risk” to the public.
Map showing ship’s route
Since the start of the outbreak, the WHO has emphasised that the risk to the public is low.
People usually become infected with hantavirus through contact with infected rodents or their urine, their droppings or their saliva, and human-to-human transmission is rare.
But a limited spread among close contacts has been observed in some previous outbreaks with the Andes strain, which has spread in South America, including Argentina, where the cruise trip started in March.
Health officials in Europe and Africa are trying to identify people who may have had contact with people who earlier left the ship, which departed on 1 April from South America for stops in Antarctica and several remote Atlantic islands.
South Africa’s health ministry said 62 contacts had been identified, including flight crew and healthcare workers. The contacts will be monitored until an incubation period has passed. None have been diagnosed with the hantavirus so far.
Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak said the government’s leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus while bird-watching in the city of Ushuaia before boarding.
They said the couple visited a landfill during the tour and may have been exposed to rodents, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Cape Verde was meant to be the ship’s final destination but the country off west Africa has not allowed the vessel to put passengers ashore because of the outbreak.
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Late on Tuesday, the Spanish health ministry said it had been asked by the WHO and the EU to take the MV Hondius and had agreed “in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles”.
The tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement: “At this stage, the planned destination for MV Hondius following the successful medical transfer is the Canary Islands.
“Oceanwide Expeditions remains in close and continual discussion with relevant authorities regarding our exact point of arrival, quarantine and screening procedures for all guests, and a precise timeline.
“We are unable to confirm the details of onward travel for guests at this stage. This is dependent on medical advice and the outcome of stringent screening procedures.”
The UK Foreign Office said it had been in touch directly with all British passengers onboard the ship.
