A Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus, Spain's health ministry announced Tuesday.

The World Health Organisation said it has confirmed 11 cases, including three people from the cruise who died.

The passenger with the new confirmed case of hantavirus was in quarantine in a military hospital in Madrid.

The passenger was quarantined in the same hospital as 13 other Spanish nationals evacuated Sunday, who all tested negative for the virus.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Madrid that all 11 confirmed cases are among passengers or crew of the MV Hondius cruise ship, including three people who died.

Nine of the 11 cases have been confirmed as the Andes virus.

Dutch hospital quarantines 12 over breach of hantavirus protocol

A Dutch hospital quarantined 12 staff members in a preventive measure after blood and urine from a hantavirus patient were handled without observing strict protocols.

The hospital staff members will be quarantined for six weeks, the Radboudumc hospital in the city of Nijmegen said, adding that the infection risk was very low and patient care continued uninterrupted.

The World Health Organisation increased its tally of confirmed cases of the Andes strain of hantavirus to nine, up by two from the previous day. It did not identify the new cases, but the tally followed announcements of positive tests for a Spaniard and a US citizen.

International medical officials are working to contain the outbreak of the virus, which hit the Hondius luxury cruise ship, which has set off for the Netherlands after discharging its final passengers in Spain's Canary Islands.

The virus can be deadly, although authorities say it does not spread easily from person to person so poses little risk of an epidemic.

The Radboudumc hospital admitted thepatient, a passenger from the ship, on May 7.

"We will carefully investigate the course of events to learn from this so that it can be prevented in the future," said Bertine Lahuis, the chair of the hospital's executive board.

Hondius sets sail for Netherlands

After the last passengers disembarked the ship in Spain's Canary Islands, the Hondius set sail for the Netherlands late on Monday evening with 25 crew, a doctor and a nurse. It is expected to arrive in the Netherlands by May 17, ship owner Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Two planes carrying 28 passengers and crew from aboard the Hondius arrived in the Netherlands from the Canary Islands on Tuesday, shortly after midnight. Eight are Dutch citizens; the others will continue on to their home countries, authorities have said.

Three people - a Dutch couple and a German national - have died since the start of the outbreak of the virus, which is usually spread by wild rodents but ​can also be transmitted person-to-person in rare cases of close contact.