90-Second Read: Evacuations of passengers from Hantavirus-stricken cruise begins in Spain

So far three cruise ship passengers have died, but health authorities continue to stress that the risk to the broader public is low. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP), A French woman and an American tested positive for the Hantavirus, as nations around the world scrambled Monday to repatriate passengers from a cruise ship hit by a deadly 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 MV Hondius anchored in the Canary Islands.

The WHO 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 on Sunday.

She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter. 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. 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.

Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier were infected. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said a second Dutch flight Monday would bring back more passengers from the Netherlands and other nations. Symptoms, which can include fever, chills and muscle aches, usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.