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Two cases of Hanta virus have been formally confirmed after three people died in a suspected outbreak on a cruise ship off the coast of West Africa. A British crew member requires urgent medical care and a passenger from the UK remains in a critical but stable condition. The World Health Organization says it has identified a total of seven cases in the outbreak. Our correspondent Kumsa Fellani has more. What we've heard overnight from the cruise line owners, a company called um Ocean Expeditions, is they've confirmed that they are currently working on plans to carry out a medical evacuation of two crew members who are still on board that MV Honduous cruise ship off the shoreline of Cape Vera. Now, this is because they've not
been allowed to disembark the 149 passengers who are from various nationalities around the world. Um the local authorities there have expressed concern that they don't know the full details of the disease and they're concerned what that would mean for the population. So they've so far only allowed just the two sickly crew uh two sickly crew members to be disembarked and evacuated once plans have been made to perhaps Europe. But everybody else is meant to then set sail possibly to Las Palmus which is an island off the Canary Islands. But that would take it about eight days of sailing or so where they hope to then continue doing further testing there if they are allowed to disembark those passengers.
Kuma one British national being treated in an intensive care unit there in Johannesburg where you are. Tell us a little about Her virus, how it spreads, how do they think the passengers became infected. Well, we know that it's an incredibly dangerous disease. It is rodentborn. um humans often contract it when they've come into contact with the extrem of either rats or mice, saliva or urine. So at this stage it's suspected that during their expeditions during this twomonlong cruise where they were going to various uh points bird watching they may have come into contact with what I've just mentioned there. Now the key problem um Karen at this moment is that this is a
disease that has a long incubation period. It can take anything from one week up to eight uh up to eight weeks to show symptoms. So even though currently the numbers of the people that have been reported um seem to be fairly low, we should it's something that officials have said need to be watched even when people return to their home countries to make sure that they don't later then show symptoms. And just this must be very worrying and distressing from the passengers still on the ship. We have been seeing videos from some passengers. What sort of advice are they getting? Well, we've spoken to a few passengers ourselves who've given a mixed picture.
Some people are saying they're trying to remain as calm as possible and trusting that the authorities will keep them informed while others have said they feel like not enough information is getting back to them and they certainly this is not something they were banking on. The last destination was supposed to be Cape Var which is where they've been docked for the last uh at least 48 hours and they've not been allowed to disembark. So now it becomes it rem it's become a longer journey that they had intended for and they don't know if other people during this time are continuing to be exposed to the disease on the cruise ship from Sophilani in Johannesburg. But
