Race to trace passengers who left hantavirus cruise ship at island

Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who disembarked from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic.

The operator of the Dutch vessel said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, left the MV Hondius on 24 April. The Dutch government gave a different figure of 40.

A 69-year-old Dutch woman who later died in South Africa was among those. The Dutch government said a Swiss national who has since been diagnosed with hantavirus was also one of those who left the cruise at the British Overseas Territory.

Two other people died on board the ship, which set sail from southern Argentina a month ago.

Three others - British, Dutch and German nationals - were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday.

The British man has been named as 56-year-old Martin Anstee and is in a stable condition.

Anstee, a retired police officer and an expedition guide on the MV Hondius, on Thursday told the BBC that "he's fine".

The other two evacuees were a 41-year-old Dutch crew member and a 65-year-old German, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

St Helena is one of the remotest islands on Earth, at 47sq miles (127 sq km- a third of the size of the Isle of Wight - with a population of about 4,400 and one hospital.

Oceanwide Expeditions said in an update on Thursday that 30 people, including the body of one of the guests who died, had disembarked on 24 April.

This included seven British people and six Americans, as well as guests from countries including Canada, Germany, Singapore, Turkey and Switzerland.

It added that the first confirmed case of hantavirus was not reported until 4 May and that all guests who disembarked the ship have been contacted by it.

Oceanwide Expeditions also said it remained in "close and continual discussion with relevant authorities regarding our exact point of arrival, quarantine and screening procedures for all guests".

The Dutch luxury cruise liner is set to dock in Spain's Canary Islands in the coming days.

The WHO has said eight cases of hantavirus - three confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on board.

Officials have said that one of the deceased had the virus, while the other two deaths are under investigation.

The Dutch government said the ship stopped at St Helena on its way to Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast.

Among those who disembarked was the 69-year-old Dutch woman who left the cruise at St Helena on 24 April, and travelled to South Africa, where she died two days later. Her husband died on board the cruise on 11 April, but is not a confirmed case of hantavirus.

The Dutch government update said before her death she had boarded a KLM flight heading from Johannesburg to the Netherlands, but became ill before its departure.

It said the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment would send letters to passengers who were on the flight, asking them to remain "available for monitoring".

Dutch media reported on Thursday that a KLM flight attendant who had been in contact with the deceased woman had been admitted to hospital in Amsterdam with hantavirus symptoms.

The third fatality - a German woman - is not a confirmed case either. Her body remains on the ship.

Meanwhile Singapore's Communicable Diseases Agency said it was isolating and testing two men - a 67-year-old Singaporean and a 65-year-old permanent resident - who disembarked the ship in St Helena.

It added that they had taken the same flight from St Helena to Johannesburg in South Africa as the 69-year-old woman who died. Their hantavirus test results are still pending.

Two US states - Georgia and Arizona - confirmed to the BBC that they are monitoring three passengers who returned to the US after disembarking. None were displaying symptoms. The US Department of State said it was in "direct contact" with affected passengers.

The local government of Tristan da Cunha - part of the British Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha - said it was "working closely with the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and other international partners to assess and manage the situation.

"The islanders who travelled to St Helena on the MV Hondius are being advised by Public Health in St Helena to undertake a period of self-isolation, just as a precaution. We will do the same here where necessary."

It said it would "provide full support to those who are asked to do so", adding that "a full risk-based contact tracing process" was now under way.

Argentina's health ministry has said officials will test rodents in the city of Ushuaia, where the ship set sail from on 1 April.