Oceanwide Expeditions says it expects to know by the end of the week if the MV Hondius cruise ship will keep to its schedule after a hantavirus outbreak.

Passengers and some of the crew are to evacuate before the ship, where an outbreak of hantavirus led to the deaths of three people, continues on its way to the Netherlands.

The MV Hondius, the cruise ship stricken with a hantavirus outbreak, is evacuating its nearly 150 passengers in the Spanish island Tenerife on Sunday.