Cruise ship at centre of suspected hantavirus outbreak blocked from docking in Cape Verde

Officials say they will not authorise docking ‘to protect public health’ after deaths of three passengers on vessel

• What is hantavirus, the infection thought to have killed three on cruise ship?

Officials in Cape Verde have said they will not allow a cruise ship believed to be harbouring an outbreak of a rare respiratory virus to dock in its ports, after the deaths of three passengers onboard.

The statement on Monday came hours after global health officials said they were scrambling to investigate the suspected outbreak of hantavirus, a disease primarily found in rodents, on the cruise ship in the Atlantic.