Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials have said they will perform careful evacuations

Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands.

An old rodent virus has exposed a modern problem: travel moves faster than diagnosis.

The World Health Organization said on Friday ​that eight people had fallen ill, including three who died, in a hantavirus outbreak ‌linked to a cruise ship, with six more confirmed cases.

Spanish nationals were the first to leave the ship, which was anchored off Tenerife. They will be under quarantine when they reach Madrid, Spanish health authorities say

The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship left Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be taken to a military hospital.