90-Second Read: 3 passengers test positive or have symptoms of Hantavirus after cruise ship evacuation

Authorities announced the new cases as nations around the world repatriate passengers from a cruise ship hit by an outbreak and quarantine or isolate them. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP), A French woman and two Americans tested positive or showed symptoms of Hantavirus Monday as nations around the world scrambled to repatriate passengers from a cruise ship hit by an outbreak and quarantine or isolate them. The French woman tested positive for Hantavirus and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday. Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the vessel anchored in the Canary Islands. The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms," said Kayla Thomas.

The World Health Organization recommended close monitoring of the former passengers, and many countries quarantined them. Earlier, officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. The woman was among five French passengers repatriated Sunday to Paris from the MV Hondius. One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring.

She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter. The planes arriving in Tenerife were to fly out passengers from more than 20 countries in an evacuation effort that was running into Monday. Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure. The Americans would first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

WHO is recommending that passengers' home countries "have active monitoring and follow-up, which means daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility," said Maria van Kerkhove, the organization's top epidemiologist. Berendsen said the evacuation operation "is based on concern for the passengers. The medical school also has a special unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases that was used early in the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients. All of the passengers were escorted Sunday from the ship to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said a second Dutch flight Monday would bring back more passengers from the Netherlands and other nations.