They are searching for passengers who disembarked and testing contacts.

Authorities around the world are rushing to find dozens of passengers who disembarked from a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak before isolation measures were imposed.

Yesterday, it was first reported that at least 29 passengers, nationals of 12 countries, had left the MV “Hondius” on April 24, following the first fatality, triggering an urgent search to establish their identities and track their movements since then.

The announcement came after the World Health Organization said five of eight suspected cases linked to the ship had been confirmed and that more cases could be discovered.

"Given the incubation period of the Andean strain of hantavirus, which can last up to six weeks, it is possible that more cases will be reported," the organization's director-general said. Tedros Adam Gebrejesus at a press conference. “Although this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the risk to public health to be low.”

Three people, a Dutch couple and a German national, have died during the outbreak on the MV Hondius, Reuters reports. Eight people are suspected of being infected with the virus, including a Swiss national. The virus is usually spread by rodents, but in rare cases can be transmitted between people, the World Health Organization said.

The Dutch Ministry of Health announced yesterday that a woman who was not on board was being tested for hantavirus and was placed in an isolation ward at a hospital in Amsterdam after showing symptoms. The positive test could mean that she is the first known person not on the MV Hondius to become infected during the outbreak. According to RTL, the woman is a flight attendant for Dutch airline KLM who was in contact with a Dutch citizen who died of hantavirus on the plane.

The Dutch Institute for Health announced later last night that three people who were in contact with the infected woman on the plane were tested for hantavirus and two results were negative, while the third test is still being analyzed.

"Although this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the risk to public health to be low."

It was also announced that they are calling crew members and passengers who helped the sick Dutch woman daily to check on their health.

All passengers who disembarked on St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the ship stopped on April 24, have been contacted, the ship's operator said. The first confirmed case of hantavirus was reported in early May.

Experts stress that the infection is very rare, but health authorities are on high alert due to the outbreak. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was closely monitoring the situation, adding that the risk to the American public was extremely low at this time.

The Georgia Department of Public Health said it is monitoring two asymptomatic residents who returned home after disembarking from a cruise ship.

The Arizona Department of Health Services said in a separate emailed statement that it is monitoring one resident who was a passenger on the ship and is asymptomatic. According to the New York Times, California is monitoring an undisclosed number of residents who were also on the ship.

A French citizen was in contact with a person who fell ill but is not showing symptoms, the foreign minister said. Jean-Noel Barot.

The virus found in the victims was confirmed to be the Andean strain, which, in rare cases, can spread between people through very close contact.

Argentina's health ministry said it would conduct a rodent capture and analysis in the southern city of Ushuaia, the cruise ship's departure point.

Three patients were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday. Two were admitted to a hospital in the Netherlands, while another person was transferred to Germany for treatment.

Martin Ansti, an expedition guide, is one of two people hospitalized in the Netherlands, Sky News reports. He said he was “feeling good” but “still has a lot of tests to do.”

The University Clinic in Düsseldorf, which is treating the evacuated German woman, said she is not a confirmed case, but a contact, and is being tested.

The plane carrying the third patient landed in the Netherlands yesterday morning, after which the person was transferred to a hospital in Nijmegen, in the east of the country.

In Switzerland, a person admitted to hospital on Monday was stable but showing symptoms consistent with hantavirus infection, including a mild fever, body aches and cough, the hospital said.

A Danish citizen who was on the Hondius has returned home and has been advised to self-isolate as a precaution, Danish health authorities said. The risk is assessed as low, as he had no close contact with anyone who later fell ill.

The MV “Hondius”, with dozens of people still on board, left its position off Cape Verde on Wednesday, where it had been blocked for days, and is expected to dock on the Spanish island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on Sunday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said.

There is still no one on the ship showing symptoms of hantavirus, the ECDC said.

Once they arrive in Tenerife, all foreign nationals should be returned to their countries if they remain healthy, while 14 Spanish passengers will be quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid. NB