WHO says evacuations planned, aid being sent to ship off Cape Verde amid hantavirus outbreak
(4 May 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++ ++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++ ASSOCIATED PRESS Praia, Cape Verde - 4 May 2026 1. SOUNDBITE (English) Ann Lindstrand, WHO representative in Cape Verde: “We have seven that we've been investigating, are still investigating and three of them are now on the ship and we're thinking about, the Dutch authorities are organizing medical evacuations together with the Cape Verdean authorities of the two patients that were having more severe symptoms, being stable, but still having the symptoms. And we will need to assess and probably find a solution for this last third person that has a few symptoms on the ship." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ann Lindstrand, WHO representative in Cape Verde: "So it's been very tricky for Cape Verdean authorities. What they have to deal with is a public health event. And of course, they have been thinking about the protection of the population here in Cabo Verde (Cape Verde). And then, of course they've been very careful to also give the needed medical assistance to the patients on board that have symptoms. So in the last 20 hours, they have been with a big medical team, two doctors, one nurse, and one lab specialist on the boat three times to assess and give necessary medical assistance on the boat. So that's the solution. And then we are then planning a medical evacuation. So from the boat, they will be transported in an ambulance that is waiting on shore and then to the airport, where they will be taken to, probably, the Netherlands.” ++BLACK FRAMES++ 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ann Lindstrand, WHO representative in Cape Verde: "Well, so nationally here, I'm not worried in Cabo Verde, we have to say that still the risks we are investigating, because on the boat from Argentina, there were people hopping off the boat and on the boat on different islands on their way to Cabo Verde. And so there is a transmission risk." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ann Lindstrand, WHO representative in Cape Verde: “There are reports of some human-to-human transmission as well, particularly with a genomic strain called Andes. And that strain, we will know if that's the strain we're dealing with in the next 24 hours because there is genomic assessments going on in South Africa." ++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++ STORYLINE: The World Health Organization's (WHO) representative for Cape Verde, Ann Lindstrand, said on Monday that Dutch authorities were organising medical evacuations for some people on board a cruise ship after a suspected hantavirus outbreak killed three passengers. "The Dutch authorities are organising medical evacuations together with the Cape Verdean authorities of the two patients that were having more severe symptoms, being stable, but still having the symptoms," she told The Associated Press. “In the last 20 hours, they have been with a big medical team, two doctors, one nurse, and one lab specialist on the boat three times to assess and give necessary medical assistance on the boat,” she said. The Dutch cruise ship, carrying about 150 passengers, was awaiting assistance off the coast of Cape Verde on Monday following a suspected hantavirus outbreak that left three people dead and several others seriously ill, according to health authorities and the vessel’s operator. The MV Hondius was on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and then several isolated islands in the South Atlantic. Lindstrand added that tests were in progress to determine if the strain of hantavirus known for more human-to-human transmission was the one that was on the ship. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7b219df0c788471ca3895856d5ac6b56