A total of 82 passengers and six crew were on board the April 25 flight from the British island in the Atlantic Ocean, South African-based carrier Airlink told AFP.
They included a Dutch woman whose husband died of the virus on the ship and whose condition “deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg”, WHO said in a statement.
She had left the ship in Saint Helena with “gastrointestinal symptoms” on April 24, flew the next day and died upon arrival at the emergency department of a Johannesburg hospital on April 26, the WHO said.
On May 4, tests for hantavirus proved positive.
“Contact tracing for passengers on the flight has been initiated,” the WHO said.
Airlink operates one flight a week from the island, which takes around four hours and 45 minutes.
The South African authorities had asked the airline to notify the passengers that they must contact the health department, a representative, Karin Murray, told AFP.
WHO said it suspected that hantavirus may have spread between people on the cruise ship, which on Tuesday was anchored just off Cape Verde.
Besides the Dutch couple, a German passenger has also died. There are two confirmed and five suspected cases.
Saint Helena, home to around 4,400 close-knit people, said passengers from the MV Hondius had come ashore and some people on the remote South Atlantic island were being asked to isolate themselves.
“Two passengers with minor symptoms came ashore and may have had some contact with members of our local community,” the British overseas territory’s government said in a statement.
“While the virus can be serious, no cases of this illness have been identified in St Helena and there is no significant cause for concern on the island at this time.
“A small number of people who travelled to St Helena on the MV Hondius or had very close contact with those who were showing symptoms, are being advised by Public Health to undertake a period of self-isolation as a precaution.”
The government said a full risk-based contact tracing process was under way to identify and notify such persons.
Hantavirus ship evacuees to be taken to Netherlands,
Two people who fell ill on a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak will be evacuated to the Netherlands, the vessel’s Dutch operator said Tuesday, without specifying when.
“The medical evacuation of two individuals currently requiring urgent medical care, and the individual associated with the guest who passed away on 2 May, will occur using two specialized aircraft that are en route to Cape Verde,” Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement.
They would be taken to the Netherlands, it said, adding: “At this stage, we do not have an exact timeline.”
Once the evacuated passengers are in transit to the Netherlands, the ship, the MV Hondius, will head for “the Canary Islands, either Gran Canaria or Tenerife, which will take 3 days of sailing”.
The ship has been at the centre of an international health scare since Saturday after it was revealed that the rare disease — generally spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva — was suspected of being behind the deaths of three of its passengers.