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A British crew member in need of “urgent medical care” is waiting to be medically evacuated after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a luxury cruise ship, authorities have said.

The crew member will be evacuated from the MV Hondius alongside a Dutch colleague after they experienced acute respiratory symptoms, it is understood.

The Dutch-flagged ship, which is understood to be carrying around 20 British nationals, has been hit by seven confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases. Three people have died, while a British passenger was ⁠evacuated and is in intensive care in South Africa, officials said.

open image in gallery A British crew member is set to be evacuated from the MV Hondius ( AFP/Getty )

The cruise ship hit by the deadly outbreak is marooned off Cape Verde, an island nation in the Atlantic off West Africa, which has not allowed the vessel to put passengers ashore.

It comes after health authorities warned a suspected hantavirus outbreak could be spreading between close human contacts onboard the vessel.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said transmission of the virus between two humans is rare, but that it suspects it may have taken place aboard the MV Hondius.

Three more suspected cases affect people who are still on board, one of whom has a mild fever.

In an update on Tuesday, WHO officials said the agency said the risk of global spread is “low”, but that some human-to-human transmission is believed to have taken place.

"We do believe that there may be some human to human transmission that's happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, ‌people who have shared cabins," Maria Van Kerkhove, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention ‌at the WHO, told reporters in Geneva.

"Some people on the ship were couples, they were sharing rooms so that's quite intimate contact," Ms Van Kerkhove said.

The first stricken passenger, the Dutch man, ‌died on April 11. His body remained on board until April 24, when it "was disembarked on St Helena, with his wife accompanying the repatriation", the ship's operator, Oceanwide ​Expeditions said.

open image in gallery Cruise ship MV Hondius is currently docked off Cape Verde port ( Reuters )

His wife, who had gastrointestinal symptoms when she was disembarked, later deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg. She died upon arrival at the emergency department on ‌April 26, the WHO said, adding that contact tracing was under way for passengers on ⁠that flight.

Ms Van Kerkhove added that the agency's working assumption was that the hantavirus on the ship is the Andes virus, which spreads in South America, including Argentina, and that testing is under way. The Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina ⁠in March.

The WHO also said it had been told there were no rats on board. People are usually infected by hantavirus through contact with infected rodents or their urine, their droppings or ⁠their saliva.

Around 150 people are stuck on the Hondius, which is carrying mostly British, American and Spanish passengers on a luxury cruise that set off from the southern tip of Argentina in late March. The cruise visited the Antarctic peninsula and South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha - some of the remotest islands on the planet.

Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday the government is “putting plans in place” for the onward travel of Britons stuck on the boat.

In a post on X, the prime minister said: “My thoughts are with those affected by the hantavirus outbreak onboard the MV Hondius.

“We are working closely with international partners to support British nationals on board and we’re putting plans in place for their safe onward travel.

“The risk to the wider public remains very low – protecting the British people is our number one priority.”