Three people are dead, and more are reportedly sick, after a suspected hantavirus outbreak onboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, officials in Cape Verde in Africa have said they will not allow the cruise ship to dock in their ports.
149 people remain on board the MV Hondius, including 17 Americans, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, the company that operates the cruise ship. The authorities are currently not allowing them to disembark in Cape Verde.
CNN reports that Oceanwide Expeditions said local health authorities have visited the ship and assessed two symptomatic crew members, one British and one Dutch, “requiring urgent medical care.” One passenger, a British national, has reportedly been hospitalized in critical condition in Johannesburg. This is the one confirmed hantavirus case. The other five are so far merely suspected hantavirus cases.
Oceanwide Expeditions said Sunday night that local health officials had “yet to make a decision regarding the transfer of these individuals into medical care in Cape Verde.”
What is the cruise ship going to do since it can’t dock?
The ship may travel from Cape Verde to Las Palmas or Tenerife in the Canary Islands and dock there, according to Oceanwide. The company said all passengers had been informed of what was happening and “strict precautionary measures are in process onboard, including isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.”
“The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions,” NBC News reports WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, said in a statement Monday. “We are acting with urgency to support the response to the hantavirus event on board a cruise vessel in the Atlantic, following the tragic loss of life.”
Two of the victims were a married couple. A 69-year-old woman collapsed at Johannesburg’s international airport while trying to return to the couple’s home country of the Netherlands, and a 70-year-old man died on board on April 11. He was officially pronounced dead upon arrival at the island of St. Helena on April 24.
“At this time, it has not been confirmed that these two deaths are connected to the current medical situation onboard,” the company said on Monday.
Oceanwide said that a German national was the third passenger to pass away. He died on May 2, but his official cause of death has not yet been established.