GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday it was tracing people on a flight between the island of Saint Helena and Johannesburg, taken by a cruise ship passenger who died of hantavirus. A total of 82 passengers and six crew were on board the April 25 flight from the British island in the Atlantic Ocean, South African-based carrier Airlink told AFP. They included a Dutch woman whose husband died of the virus on the ship and whose condition &quot;deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg&quot;, WHO said in a statement. She had left the ship in Saint Helena with &quot;gastrointestinal symptoms&quot; on April 24, flew the next day and died upon arrival at the emergency department of a Johannesburg hospital on April 26, the WHO said. On May 4, tests for hantavirus proved positive. &quot;Contact tracing for passengers on the flight has been initiated,&quot; the WHO said. Airlink operates one flight a week from the island, which takes around four hours and 45 minutes. The South African authorities had asked the airline to notify the passengers that they must contact the health department, a representative, Karin Murray, told AFP. WHO said it suspected that hantavirus may have spread between people on the cruise ship, which on Tuesday was anchored just off Cape Verde. Besides the Dutch couple, a German passenger has also died. There are two confirmed and five suspected cases. Saint Helena, home to around 4,400 close-knit people, said passengers from the MV Hondius had come ashore and some people on the remote South Atlantic island were being asked to isolate themselves. &quot;Two passengers with minor symptoms came ashore and may have had some contact with members of our local community,&quot; the British overseas territory&#39;s government said in a statement. &quot;While the virus can be serious, no cases of this illness have been identified in St Helena and there is no significant cause for concern on the island at this time. &quot;A small number of people who travelled to St Helena on the MV Hondius or had very close contact with those who were showing symptoms, are being advised by Public Health to undertake a period of self-isolation as a precaution.&quot; The government said a full risk-based contact tracing process was under way to identify and notify such persons.

An ambulance boat carrying crew members wearing hazmat suits, returns to the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 5, 2026 after a visit to the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the harbor. (AFP)

Africa

WHO traces contacts on a flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg after a cruise ship passenger later tested positive for hantavirus and died, prompting contact tracing for all 82 passengers and six crew members.

WHO tracing over 80 people on flight taken by hantavirus victim

PRAIA: Passengers aboard a cruise ship on which a suspected <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/three-die-on-atlantic-cruise-ship-from-suspected-hantavirus-who" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">outbreak of hantavirus</a> has killed three people will not be allowed to disembark in Cape Verde where it is anchored, authorities said, expressing concern for the local population. The refusal came even as WHO Europe said the risk to the wider public remained low. In its first statement on the crisis, the vessel&#39;s operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed three deaths on board the MV Hondius, travelling across from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde off the coast of west Africa. Two died on board and one after disembarking the ship. One passenger is in intensive care in Johannesburg and two others &quot;require urgent medical care&quot;, the statement said. The president of Cape Verde&#39;s National Institute of Public Health (INSP) said that the ship &quot;was not granted authorization to dock at the port of Praia&quot; off which it is anchored, in an interview with RTC public broadcaster late Sunday. &quot;Here in the country, passengers will not be able to disembark &ndash; precisely to protect the Cape Verdean population,&quot; Maria da Luz Lima declared, adding that &quot;there would be no contact between the passengers and the country&quot;. Dutch authorities have agreed to lead a joint effort to organize the repatriation of two symptomatic individuals on board MV Hondius to the Netherlands, the Oceanwide Expeditions operator said. Such a repatriation would depend on several factors, including authorization from local officials in Cape Verde, it added. In a statement sent to AFP, the Dutch foreign ministry said it was &quot;busy looking at the possibilities to medically evacuate a few people from the ship&quot;. &quot;If this can take place, the ministry of foreign affairs will coordinate it,&quot; said a spokesperson. &#39;Acting with urgency&#39; While local doctors have visited to assess the medical condition of the two sick crew, no permission was given to evacuate them to shore. Despite the concern, &quot;risk to the wider public remains low&quot;, the World Health Organization&#39;s director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement, adding that &quot;there is no need for panic or travel restrictions&quot;. He added that hantavirus infections were &quot;uncommon and usually linked to exposure to <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/rats-fleas-plague-gazas-displaced-as-temperatures-rise" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">infected rodents</a>&quot;. The WHO said it was &quot;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&quot;. &quot;WHO Europe is working with the countries involved to support medical care, evacuation, investigations and public health risk assessment.&quot; Hantavirus, an illness usually transmitted to humans from rodents, has been confirmed in the passenger currently in intensive care in Johannesburg, the operator said. However, it has not yet been established whether the virus caused the three deaths, said Oceanwide Expeditions. There has also been no confirmation of hantavirus in the two symptomatic people still requiring attention on the ship. &quot;The exact cause and any possible connection are under investigation,&quot; said the ship&#39;s operator. On Sunday, the WHO said one case of hantavirus had been confirmed and that there were &quot;five additional suspected cases.&quot; &quot;While rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response,&quot; the United Nations health agency said.

This aerial picture shows a general view of the cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 3, 2026. An outbreak of "severe acute respiratory illness" on board a cruise ship in the Atlantic has left two peopl

Europe

Cape Verde refuses to allow cruise passengers to disembark from MV Hondius over suspected hantavirus outbreak after three deaths, while health authorities continue investigating the cause.

Articles tagged with "Cape Verde"

WHO tracing over 80 people on flight taken by hantavirus victim

Cape Verde bans passengers from cruise with suspected virus deaths

WHO tracing over 80 people on flight taken by hantavirus victim