MADRID, Spain (AFP) — A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will reach the Spanish island of Tenerife “within three days”, with the evacuation of passengers to start from May 11, Spain said Wednesday.

The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alarm after three people travelling on the ship died, though World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted the outbreak was not comparable to the Covid pandemic.

The WHO said emergency crews evacuated three people — two sick crew members and another person who had been in contact with one of the confirmed cases — from the ship Wednesday, which later left its anchorage off Cape Verde and headed for Spain’s Canary Islands.