A man infected with the hantavirus is being treated in Zurich, the Swiss government said on Wednesday, adding there is currently no danger to the Swiss population.
The regional government of Spain's Canary Islands is opposed to allowing a luxury cruise ship that has been hit by an outbreak of the deadly hantavirus to dock on the archipelago, its leader, Fernando Clavijo, said on Wednesday.
"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.
He added that he had requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to discuss the issue. Clavijo belongs to the conservative People's Party - the main opposition to Sanchez's Socialists.
Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish state broadcaster TVE reported the cruise ship was set to dock at the Canary Island of Tenerife, citing sources from the country's health ministry. The ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
South Africa has identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which spreads human-to-human, in two people who came off a cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the disease, according to the health minister's presentation to parliament on Wednesday.
The presentation seen by Reuters said tests done by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) revealed that the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg, and a British man who is still in hospital. Both had become ill on the ship.
"This is the only strain that is known to cause human-to-human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and, as said earlier, only happens due to very close contact," it said. Other strains of hantavirus are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings, or saliva.
Swiss: Patient being treated in Zurich
A man infected with the hantavirus is being treated in Zurich, the Swiss government said on Wednesday, adding there is currently no danger to the Swiss population.
The man had returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the cruise ship on which several cases had occurred, the Swiss government added in a statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that seven cases of hantavirus have been identified on board the ship.
"As of 4 May 2026, seven cases have been identified, including three deaths, one critically ill patient, and three individuals reporting mild symptoms," said the WHO.
The first stricken passenger, a Dutchman, died on April 11 as the ship steamed towards Tristan da Cunha. His body remained on board until April 24, when it "was disembarked on St. Helena, with his wife accompanying the repatriation," the ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a statement on Monday.
About 150 people remain stuck on the ship, which had been visiting some of the most remote places on Earth, including Tristan da Cunha, an island in the south Atlantic between Argentina and South Africa.