The World Health Organization is tracing 80 passengers who flew from Saint Helena to Johannesburg on April 25 after a Dutch woman on board died from hantavirus, health officials said Tuesday.
The woman had disembarked the cruise ship MV Hondius with gastrointestinal symptoms on April 24 and died on April 26 upon arrival at a Johannesburg hospital.
Her husband, a 70-year-old Dutch man, died aboard the MV Hondius on April 11 after developing fever, headache, and respiratory distress. The woman later tested positive for hantavirus on May 4, marking the second confirmed case linked to the vessel.
A British passenger who was medically evacuated from the ship is also in critical condition in intensive care in Johannesburg after testing positive.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, carrying about 147 people from 23 countries, has been stranded off the coast of Cape Verde since Saturday after Cape Verdean authorities barred it from docking over health concerns. Three people have died so far, including a German national whose body remains on board, while five other suspected cases remain under investigation.
The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said two ill crew members will be evacuated to the Netherlands before the vessel sails on to Spain’s Canary Islands for full disinfection and assessment.
