The MV Hondius has now weighed anchor and is heading for the Canary Islands, where it is expected to arrive on Saturday. According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the company behind the cruise, two infectious disease specialists are set to board.
Three sick people who have been evacuated from the ship have been flown to the Netherlands, where they landed in the evening and were immediately taken to hospital. Among those who have fallen ill is the ship's doctor on the Hondius.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) is doing its best to downplay a growing threat of panic. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's chief epidemiologist, says that "most people will never be exposed to this."
"This is not the next Covid, but it is a very contagious virus," she says, according to AFP.
Suspected case in Switzerland
The luxury cruise ship Hondius has been anchored off Cape Verde since the weekend. Cape Verde had been intended as its final destination after a trip across the Atlantic from Ushuaia, Argentina. But now the Canary Island of Tenerife is the next destination, confirms Spain's Health Minister Mónica García. This is despite protests from the Canary Islands' regional president, Fernando Clavijo.
At least eight people from the Hondius have fallen ill with suspected hantavirus, according to WHO; five of them have been confirmed to be infected with the virus.
One of these is a former passenger on the ship who is now being cared for in Zurich, Swiss authorities announced.
It is unclear where and when the man in question left the ship. However, Spanish newspaper El País reports that he is part of a group of 23 people who jumped ship from Hondius on the volcanic island of St. Helena when the ship stopped there. That was more than two weeks ago, and according to the newspaper, the 23 have gone to their respective home countries, including the United States, Australia and Taiwan, and were only contacted by authorities this week.
Birdwatchers infected
WHO is also trying to trace passengers on a flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg in April. On board was a woman whose husband had died on the ship, and who herself died the day after arriving in South Africa.
In addition, the airline KLM states that the woman tried to get home, boarded an aircraft but was not allowed to fly, and was removed before departure.
According to the AP, investigators in Argentina are working on the theory that the first sick passengers were infected when they visited a covered garbage dump as birdwatchers days before departing on the Hondius and came into contact with rodents that carried the virus.
