A cruise ship with a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard is headed for Spain’s Canary Islands, where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home after weeks at sea.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn on Sunday, where WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due to help coordinate the ship’s evacuation.

Three passengers from the ship - a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman - have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The only hantavirus type that can transmit from person to person - the Andes virus - has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.

WHO’s spokeswoman Maria Van Kerkhove said “we classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact”, but added that the risk to the general public and the people of the Canaries remained low.

At the port of Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, AFP journalists saw white tents had been sent up along the quay.

Despite the situation, daily life appeared largely normal: some people were swimming, others shopping at the market or sitting at cafe terraces.

Regional authorities have refused to allow the vessel to dock. Instead, it will remain offshore while passengers are screened and evacuated between Sunday and Monday - the only window health officials say the weather will allow.

The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship.

- AFP