The World Health Organisation attempted to calm fear around the planet on Thursday, saying the 'rat virus' first identified aboard a Dutch cruise ship was not the start of a 'new Covid'.

"Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus, and the other three are suspected," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who led the organisation during the global COVID pandemic.

It means the number of confirmed cases has increased by two.

"WHO has also informed 12 countries whose nationals disembarked in St. Helena," Ghebreyesus went on. "Those 12 countries are Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, St. Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. In addition, WHO is supporting health authorities in South Africa to follow up with people who were on the flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg with the woman who later died."

Around 40 people are said to have left the ship in St. Helena before the outbreak was confirmed.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Acting Director for the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, added, "I want to be unequivocal here. This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. There's a confined area. We have five confirmed cases so far.

Three people have died in total: a Dutch couple and a German national. The MV Hondius, carrying nearly 150 people, is en route to the Canaries after being denied docking in Cape Verde.