Four Australians on cruise ship with suspected hantavirus outbreak
Four Australians are stuck on a luxury cruise ship stranded off the coast of Cape Verde, after a suspected outbreak of a rare respiratory virus killed three people, left three others seriously ill and forced nearly 150 people from across the world to isolate onboard.
You can read the full story here:
In a press release overnight, the cruise line Oceanwide Expeditions revealed the nationality of those affected.
The medical situation began on April 11 when a Dutch man died on board. He was disembarked on St Helena on 24 April with his wife, who also later died.
On 27 April, a British man was evacuated to Johannesburg and is critically ill in hospital with a hantavirus infection.
On 2 May, a German passenger died on board the ship.
There are also two crew members, of British and Dutch nationality, still on board with “acute respiratory symptoms”.
The ship is sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, with local authorities not yet permitting those on board to leave.
The 149 people on board are of 23 different nationalities, with passengers predominantly American, British, Spanish and Dutch, with four people from Australia. Of the crew, 38 are from the Philippines.
Here’s an explainer of what hantavirus is:
“,”elementId”:”63c83762-609a-4390-a526-42ed51cc6ba8″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
You can read the full story here:
“,”elementId”:”864ab07e-0bd5-4a84-b81d-cc4b729d2717″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement”,”prefix”:”Related: “,”text”:”Scramble to evacuate two people from cruise ship amid suspected hantavirus outbreak”,”elementId”:”0756a295-f794-4cfc-959d-e2c328e7179e”,”role”:”thumbnail”,”url”:”https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/04/cruise-ship-suspected-hantavirus-outbreak-blocked-docking-cape-verde”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
In a press release overnight, the cruise line Oceanwide Expeditions revealed the nationality of those affected.
“,”elementId”:”b0fc48a0-2d43-4a6f-a1d7-e3c02251b314″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The medical situation began on April 11 when a Dutch man died on board. He was disembarked on St Helena on 24 April with his wife, who also later died.
“,”elementId”:”9e917ab7-859e-4fa5-8a54-5dff11bfa8e7″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
On 27 April, a British man was evacuated to Johannesburg and is critically ill in hospital with a hantavirus infection.
“,”elementId”:”43b730b6-bece-415c-910f-bfecf354df4f”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
On 2 May, a German passenger died on board the ship.
“,”elementId”:”eff8bfdd-5094-4f10-9b61-b64b7d6eeb26″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
There are also two crew members, of British and Dutch nationality, still on board with “acute respiratory symptoms”.
“,”elementId”:”4bf02520-0460-49f5-9e46-053e1dacdf11″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The ship is sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, with local authorities not yet permitting those on board to leave.
“,”elementId”:”0ec9af9a-8a6b-4926-9f9f-ed11fed5dde9″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The 149 people on board are of 23 different nationalities, with passengers predominantly American, British, Spanish and Dutch, with four people from Australia. Of the crew, 38 are from the Philippines.
“,”elementId”:”6b6a6baf-3edf-45c0-ae5f-d6b3a08a3728″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Here’s an explainer of what hantavirus is:
“,”elementId”:”ef7f76a2-deae-4335-9ade-c45b2a68fcb9″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement”,”prefix”:”Related: “,”text”:”What is hantavirus, the infection thought to have killed three on cruise ship?”,”elementId”:”641d73c4-ee9b-41e3-9548-42210b7945cc”,”role”:”thumbnail”,”url”:”https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/04/what-is-hantavirus-the-infection-that-has-killed-three-people-on-a-cruise-ship”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:true,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1777926055000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”16.20 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1777927329000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”16.42 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1777927188000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”16.39 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”16.39″,”title”:”Four Australians on cruise ship with suspected hantavirus outbreak”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Mon 4 May 2026 16.50 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 4 May 2026 16.20 EDT”},{“id”:”679b43ab8f08d7cb6f3007fa”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Stephanie Convery with the main action.
“,”elementId”:”a21e845c-6136-4937-b339-27aacf578cbd”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Mortgage holders are set to be hundreds of dollars worse off per month than they were at the start of the year as the Reserve Bank prepares to unload a third consecutive interest rate hike on borrowers. More coming up.
“,”elementId”:”28a96de8-1bc9-4545-aafc-4f08e8d1eb01″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Victoria’s treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, will today hand down a state budget that will deliver an operating surplus and which will forecast another next financial year. We’ll follow the budget news as it lands.
“,”elementId”:”d74d227f-ac44-4d9d-a552-1d467067d914″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
And there are four Australians among the nearly 150 people stranded off the coast of Cape Verde on a luxury cruise ship where a suspected outbreak of a rare virus has killed three people. More on that, too, in a minute.
“,”elementId”:”1600a0c8-6e5a-4df4-bb68-dc47b4156ad1″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1777926055000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”16.20 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1777925911000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”16.18 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1777926055000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”16.20 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”16.20″,”title”:”Welcome”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Mon 4 May 2026 16.50 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 4 May 2026 16.20 EDT”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”,”renderingTarget”:”Web”,”serverTime”:1777927973653}”>
Key events
Adeshola Ore
Australia’s minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has called for “peace” after Kumanjayi Little Baby’s death, saying there will be time for “conversations later on.”
Northern Territory police over the weekend charged Jefferson Lewis with murder over the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. The Warlpiri girl went missing on Saturday 25 April from her bed in a town camp near Alice Springs,
Speaking to the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night, McCarthy said:
What we need now is to just have some peace, to be able to bury this little girl, and there’ll be times for conversations later on.
The national commissioner for Indigenous children, Sue Hunter, on Monday, wrote in The Australian newspaper that while grieving should be respected sorry business “does not silence the questions this loss demands we ask.”
McCarthy said Hunter’s comments were “appropriate” and stressed that the Albanese government established the commissioner’s role due to concern for the care for “our children across the country”.
Four Australians on cruise ship with suspected hantavirus outbreak
Four Australians are stuck on a luxury cruise ship stranded off the coast of Cape Verde, after a suspected outbreak of a rare respiratory virus killed three people, left three others seriously ill and forced nearly 150 people from across the world to isolate onboard.
You can read the full story here:
In a press release overnight, the cruise line Oceanwide Expeditions revealed the nationality of those affected.
The medical situation began on April 11 when a Dutch man died on board. He was disembarked on St Helena on 24 April with his wife, who also later died.
On 27 April, a British man was evacuated to Johannesburg and is critically ill in hospital with a hantavirus infection.
On 2 May, a German passenger died on board the ship.
There are also two crew members, of British and Dutch nationality, still on board with “acute respiratory symptoms”.
The ship is sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, with local authorities not yet permitting those on board to leave.
The 149 people on board are of 23 different nationalities, with passengers predominantly American, British, Spanish and Dutch, with four people from Australia. Of the crew, 38 are from the Philippines.
Here’s an explainer of what hantavirus is:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Stephanie Convery with the main action.
Mortgage holders are set to be hundreds of dollars worse off per month than they were at the start of the year as the Reserve Bank prepares to unload a third consecutive interest rate hike on borrowers. More coming up.
Victoria’s treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, will today hand down a state budget that will deliver an operating surplus and which will forecast another next financial year. We’ll follow the budget news as it lands.
And there are four Australians among the nearly 150 people stranded off the coast of Cape Verde on a luxury cruise ship where a suspected outbreak of a rare virus has killed three people. More on that, too, in a minute.
