A third case of hantavirus has been confirmed among passengers on board a cruise ship in the South Atlantic, bringing the number of likely infections to eight.

The man is being treated in hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, after travelling on the m/v Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise liner, on the trip from April 1 to 24.

His wife, who travelled with him, has not shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution, cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.

The man left the ship when it arrived on the island of St Helena, at the same time as a 69-year-old Dutch woman who died three days later in hospital in Johannesburg. She was also later confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Her 70-year-old husband died at sea on April 6 after developing gastric and respiratory symptoms. His body was taken off the ship in St Helena.

A German woman died on board a few days later and is still on the ship, while a 69-year-old British man was evacuated on April 27 and taken into intensive care in Johannesburg. He has also tested positive for hantavirus. His condition is said to be critical but stable.

Close contact

The World Health Organization regards the risk to the general population as low because hantavirus rarely spreads between humans, but it said the virus was likely to have been passed between people with “very close contacts” on the ship.

Three other suspected cases have been identified on board, including the ship’s doctor and one other crew member who are said to be seriously ill. They are a 41-year-old Dutch man and a 56-year old British national, the Dutch foreign ministry said. Neither has tested positive for the virus.

They were evacuated on Wednesday morning and flown on specially equipped aircraft to Schiphol airport in the Netherlands, together with a 65-year-old German woman who is not showing symptoms but was a close contact of the German passenger who died.

The rest of the 148 passengers and crew are still on board the vessel, which is anchored off the Cape Verde islands. The cruise company said it had made arrangements with Spain to let the passengers disembark in Tenerife, but the government in the Canary Islands is threatening to stop the ship docking.

Canary islands row

Fernando Clavijo, the islands’ president, requested an “urgent meeting” with the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and said there was not enough information to guarantee the safety of the local population.

Spain is understood to be making arrangements to take its 14 citizens off the ship, including one crew member, and transfer them to a military hospital where they can be quarantined.

The WHO believes the Dutch couple were infected before they boarded the ship in Argentina at the start of the voyage on April 1, having travelled overland through South America where the Andes variant of the virus is present.

Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s director director of epidemic prevention, said the disease was generally transmitted by rodents, but there had been some instances of the Andes virus being passed between humans.

The WHO is also trying to trace the 82 passengers and six crew on board the Airlink flight from St Helena that the infected Dutch passenger flew to Johannesburg on on April 25.