Emergency crews on Wednesday evacuated three people from a cruise ship hit with a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, the UN's health agency said, as experts confirmed it to be a rare strain that can be transmitted between humans.

Two sick crew members and one other person who had been in contact with one of the confirmed cases were evacuated from the MV Hondius off Cape Verde, the World Health Organization said. They later boarded flights at the airport in the country's capital Praia.

Health officials played down any fears of a wider global outbreak, with WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying it was not like the Covid-19 pandemic, adding: "The risk to the rest of the world is low."

The vessel has been at the centre of an international health scare since Saturday, when the UN's health agency was informed that three passengers had died and the suspected cause was hantavirus. The rare disease is usually spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva.

Passengers began falling ill a month ago. A Dutch woman died in South Africa on April 26 after having left the cruise following the death of her husband. Two other people are still being treated – one in Johannesburg and one in the Swiss city of Zurich.

Spain's Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez meanwhile said the vessel would dock within the next three days in Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, and all foreign passengers would be flown back to their home countries from there if their health allowed.

Two infectious disease experts from the Netherlands were expected to join the passengers for the onward trip, according to Dutch officials.

The Hondius set sail from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 and has been anchored off Cape Verde since Sunday while emergency teams try to deal with the situation. (AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam