World Health Organization confirms five cases of hantavirus after cruise ship outbreak and warn more could be infected - live updates

By JAMIE BULLEN, LIVE COVERAGE EDITOR The World Health Organization has confirmed five cases of hantavirus following an outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship with a warning more people could become infected. 'So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths. Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus and the other three are suspected,' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva. 'The species of hantavirus involved in this case is the Andes virus, which is found in Latin America... Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported,' he added. Meanwhile the WHO confirmed the UK was the first to raise the alarm about the disease which has spread across the world following a 'cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness'.  Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said experts from WHO and the European Centre for Disease Control have joined the MV Hondius in Cape Verde and will stay aboard until it reaches the Canary Islands. He also told a press briefing that morale has improved on board since the ship left Cape Verde. Concerns have been raised about 29 passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius to return home, without realising they may have contracted hantavirus and spread it around the world. Some 29 passengers left the luxury cruise ship on April 24 on the island of St Helena, 13 days following the first death on board, before returning to countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Singapore and Denmark. While those remaining on the vessel are following strict hygiene measures, others resumed normal life, not realising they may be carrying the rare illness. A total of 146 people from 23 nationalities are still on board the ship, which departed Cape Verde at 6.15pm yesterday and is now heading north. See our graphic below on how the virus has spread across the world The World Health Organisation (WHO) is working with health authorities in South Africa to trace contacts of the two cases of hantavirus in the country, which includes one Briton who is still in intensive care there. Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the department of epidemic and pandemic threat management at the WHO, said there had been two confirmed cases in South Africa. She said authorities in South Africa are 'taking the lead' on contact tracing. The UK was the first to sound the alarm about the hantavirus outbreak, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UK acted following a 'cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness'. In an update, he said eight cases have been reported with five confirmed to be hantavirus, while the other three remain suspected. He said that it is possible that more cases may be identified given the incubation period of the virus. Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the hantavirus crisis following an outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship. This afternoon, the World Health Organization is providing an update on the virus which has seen eight cases reported with three of those resulting in deaths. But as fears grows health officials say the outbreak is not expected to be an epidemic. Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, director at the alert and response co-ordination department of the World Health Organisation’s Emergencies Health Programme, highlighted a similar outbreak in Argentina in 2018/19 which led to 34 cases. Stick with us for the latest updates on this developing story. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.