AMSTERDAM: Health experts rushed to stop the possible spread of hantavirus as two suspected cases were reported on Friday off the luxury cruise liner where the outbreak began.The latest reports include a man who fell ill after leaving the ship and a woman who became ill after sitting near an infected cruise passenger on a plane.The incidents reported by health officials thousands of miles away – one in Spain, the other on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha – are separate from WHO’s tally of eight people who became ill on the Dutch-flagged ship, the MV Hondius. Three of these people have died.Four patients remained hospitalized in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland on Friday.The Hondius is en route to Teneriffe in the Canary Islands, and is expected to arrive there on Sunday morning.The WHO chief tried to reassure worried residents on Saturday that they were not in danger. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was due to head to the island to coordinate the landing, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca.Tedros said, “I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and see a ship heading toward your shores, it brings up memories that none of us have ever fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a moment.” “But I want you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”Passengers and crew will be screened before disembarkation under guidelines being finalized by WHO and other agencies. agencies