Cruise ship with hantavirus outbreak to sail to Canary Islands

A Dutch cruise ship with a hantavirus outbreak on board is to sail to the Canary Islands, Spain's health ministry has said.

Two crew members, including the ship's reportedly British doctor, require urgent medical care and were due to be evacuated on a hospital aircraft to the Canary Islands on Tuesday. A third person linked to a German national who died was also due to be evacuated.

Officials were determining which passengers required urgent evacuation from Cape Verde, where the ship was docked, the health ministry added.

Three passengers who were aboard the MV Hondius have died, after it set sail from Argentina on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean around a month ago.

Seven cases of hantavirus - two confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on the ship, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) update.

The two confirmed cases are a Dutch woman, who is among those who died, and a 69-year-old UK national who was evacuated to South Africa for medical treatment.

The woman's husband also died but he is not a confirmed case, nor is the German national who passed away on 2 May.

South Africa's health ministry said the two confirmed cases are linked to the Andes strain of hantavirus, according to a Reuters report. That strain is known to cause human-to-human transmission between people in close contact.

A Dutch cruise ship with a hantavirus outbreak on board is to sail to the Canary Islands, Spain's health ministry has said.

Two crew members, including the ship's reportedly British doctor, require urgent medical care and were due to be evacuated on a hospital aircraft to the Canary Islands on Tuesday. A third person linked to a German national who died was also due to be evacuated.

Officials were determining which passengers required urgent evacuation from Cape Verde, where the ship was docked, the health ministry added.

Three passengers who were aboard the MV Hondius have died, after it set sail from Argentina on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean around a month ago.

Seven cases of hantavirus - two confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on the ship, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) update.

The two confirmed cases are a Dutch woman, who is among those who died, and a 69-year-old UK national who was evacuated to South Africa for medical treatment.

The woman's husband also died but he is not a confirmed case, nor is the German national who passed away on 2 May.

South Africa's health ministry said the two confirmed cases are linked to the Andes strain of hantavirus, according to a Reuters report. That strain is known to cause human-to-human transmission between people in close contact.