Aussie on board hantavirus cruise ship has returned home

An Australian passenger aboard the nightmare cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak has reportedly returned home.

Another passenger told Spanish newspaper El Pais that a group of 23 people left the ship at St Helena on April 21 and began their journeys home, about 10 days after the first death.

"There are 23 people wandering around there, and until three days ago, no one had contacted them," the passenger, who asked the newspaper to remain anonymous, said. 

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"The Australian went back to Australia, the one from Taiwan to Taiwan, the Americans to all corners of North America. The Englishman to England, the Dutch to their homes… I don't remember the rest, but no Spaniards."

The passenger claimed that at least one of the members of the group appeared to have been infected with hantavirus and was admitted to a hospital in Switzerland. 

The ship is currently off the west coast of Africa destined for the Canary Islands but the plan has been met with local objections.

Fernando Clavijo, the Spanish archipelago's leader, said on Wednesday he was opposed to the ship docking there and requested an urgent meeting with Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.

That contradicted the Spanish government's position, which said it would allow the ship to dock at the secondary port of Granadilla de Abona in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands.

Three individuals suspected of having hantavirus were evacuated from Cape Verde, World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed on Wednesday, saying they would travel to the Netherlands.

One of those individuals is the ship's British doctor, who was originally bound for the Canary Islands but is headed for the Netherlands now his condition has improved, the Spanish health ministry said.

Two specialist doctors from the Netherlands will also arrive and remain with the vessel after it leaves Cape Verde, the tour operator said on Wednesday. Another doctor is already on board.

The cruise ship had been cleared to continue its voyage and the three patients were evacuated from the country "with maximum safety", National Director of Health Angela Gomes said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon (Thursday morning AEST).

The Swiss government confirmed one patient was being treated for hantavirus in hospital after returning to Switzerland from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which is in the midst of a deadly outbreak of the rodent-borne disease.

"The man had returned from a trip to South America with his wife at the end of April," the government said in a statement.

"Having noticed symptoms, he telephoned his GP and went to the University Hospital Zurich for further assessment."

The man was "immediately placed in isolation" in hospital, before lab tests revealed a positive test for the American-strained hantavirus variant.

The man's wife, who accompanied him on the cruise, is not showing any symptoms of the virus but is self-isolating as a precaution.

The WHO says the risk to the global population from this outbreak is low.

"This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease," The Who's top epidemic expert, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, said.

"Most people will never be exposed to this."

The Swiss health department said while person-to-person transmission has been documented in some rare cases it only occurs through close contact.

"The FOPH therefore considers the occurrence of further cases in Switzerland unlikely," the department said.

Of the eight cases recorded, five were confirmed by laboratory testing.

Three people have died, and one body remained on the ship, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday (early Thursday AEST).

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Clavijo, the Canary Islands leader, publicly rejected the Spanish government's call to allow the MV Hondius to dock in the islands.

The luxury cruise ship has been suspended in waters off Cape Verde on the African coast, which was meant to be the ship's final destination, since May 3.

The Spanish Health Ministry said it had been asked by the World Health Organisation and the European Union to take MV Hondius "in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles", according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

But, speaking to radio station COPE, Clavijo said he could not allow the vessel to enter the Canaries.

"This decision ​is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the ​public or guarantee their safety," ​Clavijo told radio station COPE, according to Reuters.

Earlier today, Spanish state broadcaster TVE said the infected cruise ship was heading towards Europe and expected to dock in Tenerife in the next few days, citing sources from the country's ⁠health ​ministry.

On Monday, cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed four Australians were among 88 passengers and 68 crew aboard the ship.

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