Of the seven cases identified, the World Health Organization recorded three deaths, one patient in critical condition and three with mild symptoms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed this Tuesday (5) two cases of hantavirus among people on board or disembarking from a cruise ship anchored in Cape Verde, from which three people died.
“On May 4, 2026, seven cases were identified (two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected hantavirus cases), including three deaths, one patient in critical condition and three people with mild symptoms,” the WHO said in a statement.
Three of these people are no longer on the cruise and four remain on board.
The WHO also announced that it is trying to locate the passengers of the flight that left the island of Saint Helena bound for Johannesburg, from which it was removed a Dutch tourist infected with hantavirus who died in a South African hospital.
The 69-year-old Dutch woman, whose 70-year-old husband died on board the cruise, had disembarked in Saint Helena on April 24 “with gastrointestinal symptoms” and boarded a flight to Johannesburg the next day, the WHO said.
She died on April 26 and her hantavirus infection was confirmed on Monday. “We have begun searches to locate the passengers on the flight,” the WHO added in a statement.
