An Australian passenger aboard the nightmare cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak has reportedly returned home.

Another passenger told Spanish newspaper El Pais that a group of 23 people left the MV Hondius at St Helena on April 21 and began their journeys home, about 10 days after the first death.

"There are 23 people wandering around there, and until three days ago, no one had contacted them," the passenger, who asked the newspaper to remain anonymous, said. 

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"The Australian went back to Australia, the one from Taiwan to Taiwan, the Americans to all corners of North America. The Englishman to England, the Dutch to their homes… I don't remember the rest, but no Spaniards."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware four Australians are among the 88 passengers and 68 crew on board the ship but is not aware that any have been affected by the hantavirus outbreak.

"Owing to privacy obligations we are unable to comment further," a spokesperson said.

"DFAT stands ready to provide consular assistance if required."

The luxury cruise ship has been suspended in waters off Cape Verde on the African coast, which was meant to be the ship's final destination, since May 3 following the outbreak.

Eight cases of hantavirus have been recorded, but only five of those were confirmed by laboratory testing.

Three people have died. One body remains on the ship, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

The ship is destined for the Canary Islands, a plan which has been met with local objections.

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One patient with hantavirus returned to Switzerland 

The passenger also told El Pais that at least one of the members of the group appeared to have been infected with hantavirus and was admitted to a hospital in Switzerland. 

The Swiss government confirmed one patient was being treated for hantavirus in hospital after returning to Switzerland from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which is in the midst of a deadly outbreak of the rodent-borne disease.

"The man had returned from a trip to South America with his wife at the end of April," the government said in a statement.

"Having noticed symptoms, he telephoned his GP and went to the University Hospital Zurich for further assessment."

The man was "immediately placed in isolation" in hospital, before lab tests revealed a positive test for the American-strained hantavirus variant.

The man's wife, who accompanied him on the cruise, is not showing any symptoms of the virus but is self-isolating as a precaution.

The WHO says the risk to the global population from this outbreak is low.

"This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease," the WHO's top epidemic expert, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, said.

"Most people will never be exposed to this."

The Swiss health department said while person-to-person transmission has been documented in some rare cases it only occurs through close contact.

"The FOPH therefore considers the occurrence of further cases in Switzerland unlikely," the department said.

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Three evacuated 

Three people suspected of having hantavirus were evacuated from Cape Verde and will travel to the Netherlands, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday.

One of those individuals is the ship's British doctor, who was originally bound for the Canary Islands but is headed for the Netherlands now that his condition has improved, the Spanish health ministry said.

Two specialist doctors from the Netherlands will also arrive and remain with the vessel after it leaves Cape Verde, the tour operator said on Wednesday. Another doctor is already on board.

The cruise ship had been cleared to continue its voyage and the three patients were evacuated from the country "with maximum safety", National Director of Health Angela Gomes said in a statement this morning.

Plans to dock at Canary Islands met with objections

The Spanish government has said it would allow the ship to dock at the secondary port of Granadilla de Abona in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands.

This was because it had been asked by the WHO and the European Union to take MV Hondius "in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles", according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

But Fernando Clavijo, the Spanish archipelago's leader, yesterday said he was opposed to the ship docking there and requested an urgent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez.

"This decision ​is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the ​public or guarantee their safety," ​Clavijo told radio station COPE, according to Reuters.

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