3 were removed from the hantavirus ship as the Canary Islands did about the face, they chose not to let it stop there

Three suspected hantavirus patients have been evacuated from the MV Hondius and are on their way to the Netherlands for medical treatment, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. The three are German, Dutch and British, the last of whom is a member of the group, according to the WHO.

A rare outbreak of the virus has killed three.

And in the latest twist to the ordeal of hell for the 150 or so passengers on board, the leader of the Canary Islands has rejected plans for the ship to stop there.

The plan, coordinated between the Spanish government and the WHO, was for the ship to head to the Canary Islands for “full investigation” and “full testing” after the three were released.

But the island’s regional government leader, Fernando Clavijo, rejected the idea on Wednesday, saying he had requested a meeting with Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Clavijo, who is part of the opposition, wrote: “The Canary Islands are always responsible, but they cannot accept decisions made behind the Canary Islands’ institutions and without sufficient information to the people.”

The plane that was planned to transport the ship’s doctor, who was ill, to the Canary Islands, has been cancelled, a source close to the regional president’s office told the French news agency AFP on Wednesday.

The Spanish health ministry later announced that they would be treated in the Netherlands.

The news comes as South African authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they had identified the so-called Andes strain of hantavirus in two people who were previously on the cruise. The Andes strain, found mainly in Argentina and Chile, can be passed from person to person, unlike any other strain of the virus..

Also on Wednesday, Swiss authorities announced that a man who had been on a cruise and returned home at the end of April had also tested positive for the Andes virus.

“There is currently no risk to the Swiss public,” they said in a statement.

And the French health ministry told BFM TV that France’s “contact case” could be confirmed. It is believed that the man traveled on the same plane as one of the two patients was transported to Johannesburg for treatment in late April.

There is currently one person of British origin in South Africa who is in the intensive care unit. French authorities may be referring to another patient who was flown to Johannesburg: a 69-year-old Dutch woman who got off a boat with “abdominal symptoms” on April 24 and died two days later, after her condition “deteriorated during the flight to Johannesburg,” the WHO said.

That brings the total number of suspected or confirmed cases to nine: three dead, five confirmed to be receiving treatment, and a Frenchman, about whom few details have been given.

The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said two infectious disease experts were en route Wednesday from the Netherlands to the ship and “will remain with the ship after it departs from Cape Verde.”

The Dutch-flagged MV Hontius, a luxury cruise-liner, left Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1. It has been docked in Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa since Sunday.

Ann Lindstrand, the WHO representative in Cape Verde, told CBS News’ Ramy Inocencio on Tuesday that there is no risk of a pandemic threat with hantavirus, given the low chance of person-to-person transmission.

Spanish and Dutch authorities are “discussing a lot” what will happen next to the passengers on board, he added. They were told to stay in their homes as much as possible.

“If there is a need for quarantine, that will be the decision of the health authorities in Spain or Holland at that time, in close cooperation with WHO advice,” Lindstrand said.

If needed, the quarantine can last up to two months, as the incubation period for hantavirus is between one and eight weeks, he said.

“Eight weeks is a long time to be in solitary confinement,” he added.

Lindstrand said she was in contact with a volunteer doctor on board who told her the passengers were “remarkably well,” although they were anxious to know what their next port of call would be.

“We have heard of a few people on board,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s director of epidemics and pandemic preparedness and protection, on Tuesday. “We just want you to know that we are working with the ship’s management. We are working with the countries you come from. We hear you. We know you are afraid.”