Seven cases of hantavirus have been identified after the suspected ‌outbreak ‌on ⁠a luxury cruise ​ship off West Africa that has killed three people.

The World Health ‌Organisation says there are two confirmed cases and five suspected cases on the ship.

It is carrying four Australians among mostly British, American and Spanish ⁠passengers.

“As of ‌May 4, 2026, seven ​cases (two laboratory ‌confirmed cases of hantavirus ​and five suspected cases) have been identified, ​including ​three ​deaths, one critically ‌ill patient and three individuals reporting mild symptoms,” the WHO ​said.

About 150 people are still stuck on the MV Hondius after a Dutch couple and a German national died, and others fell ill. Authorities have said they include a Briton who left the vessel and is being treated in South Africa.

Medics were working on ‌Monday to evacuate two more people with symptoms of the virus.

The Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health ‌and the Environment (RIVM), which is assisting with the outbreak, said hantavirus had been confirmed in one patient showing symptoms.

Hantavirus, which can cause fatal respiratory illness, can be spread when particles from rodent droppings or urine become airborne. It does not transfer easily between humans.

There are no specific drugs to treat the disease, so treatment focuses on ‌supportive care, including putting patients ‌on ventilators in severe cases.

The WHO said the risk to the wider public was low and there was no need for panic or travel restrictions.

But authorities in ​the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde said they had not allowed Dutch-flagged MV Hondius to dock as a precaution.

“We’re not just headlines: we’re people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home,” Jake Rosmarin, a US travel blogger, said in a tearful Instagram video post from the ship on Monday.

“There is a lot of uncertainty and that is the hardest part.”

A spokesperson for the ship’s Dutch operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said, as a precaution, all passengers had been told to remain inside their cabins to prevent any potential spread of the virus.

Although human-to-human transmission is rare, the incubation period can last several weeks, meaning some people may ⁠not yet be showing symptoms.

Oceanwide Expeditions was trying to arrange the repatriation of two crew members with symptoms of the disease – one ‌British and one Dutch – ​along with the body of the German national and a “guest closely associated with the deceased” who has no symptoms.

The company said it was looking into whether passengers could be screened and disembarked on the islands ​of Las Palmas ‌and Tenerife.

Spanish authorities said they had not yet received a request for the ship to dock and disembark passengers there.

The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, which Oceanwide Expeditions said would make the request, ​did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March, according to company documentation, on a voyage marketed as an Antarctic nature expedition, with berth prices ranging from $A23,000-$36,000.

It travelled past mainland Antarctica, the Falklands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan, St Helena, and Ascension before reaching Cape Verdean waters on May 3.

South Africa’s Health Department confirmed two ​of ​the dead were Dutch nationals: A 70-year-old man, who died on St Helena on April 11, ​and his wife, 69, who died in South Africa after collapsing at OR Tambo International Airport.

The British ‌man being treated in a private clinic in Johannesburg became ill on April 27, while the German victim on the ship died on May 2, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Hantavirus usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks after exposure.