GENEVA, May 8, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The World Health Organization said Friday the risk to the public of a deadly hantavirus strain in a cruise ship outbreak was minimal, as it spreads only through "very close contact".

An outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which is heading to the Spanish island of Tenerife, has sparked international concern.

Three passengers on the ship have died, while in the latest update from the WHO, there have been five confirmed and three suspected cases in total.

"This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who's really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a press briefing in Geneva.

He pointed out that even people who had stayed in the same cabin as an infected person on the MV Hondius "don't seem to be both infected in some cases".

The spokesman insisted that the disease was "not spreading anything close to how Covid was spreading".

"The contact tracing is effective because it traces those who have been in close contact," he said.

The ship left Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde, stopping at several remote islands along the way.