India, May 11 -- Passengers and crew from the cruise ship MV Hondius began disembarking in Tenerife on Sunday under a tightly coordinated international health operation led by Spanish authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), as officials sought to reassure the public that the outbreak "is not another COVID."

The vessel arrived off the Canary Islands after weeks at sea at the centre of an international public health response triggered by a hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives.

"This is not another COVID," he told journalists during a media stakeout on Sunday, adding that "the risk to the public is low" and that people "shouldn't be scared and they shouldn't panic."

There have been eight cases linked to the ship o...