90-Second Read: France confirms 1st Hantavirus case linked to MV Hondius outbreak

In Spain, health authorities said two women hospitalized in Barcelona and Alicante over suspected exposure to Hantavirus tested negative in PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests. Spanish Health Ministry officials said the 14 Spanish passengers who transferred and quarantined at Madrid's Gomez Ulla hospital on Sunday were in good condition. Hantavirus is a rare disease usually transmitted through infected rodents or their droppings, though the strain responsible for this outbreak can also spread between humans.

The patient is a woman who was among five French nationals evacuated from the vessel and flown from Spain's Canary Islands to France on Sunday, Stephanie Rist told radio France Inter. Authorities have also identified 22 French nationals who were on earlier flights linked to the case cluster, including routes between Saint Helena and Johannesburg and between Johannesburg and Amsterdam. Spain's Health Ministry said "all necessary measures" had been taken since the beginning of the operation to "break possible chains of transmission" following confirmation of two positive cases linked to the ship, an American and a French woman.

Meanwhile, Spain's Health Ministry rejected concerns raised by Canary Islands regional officials that rodents from the ship could reach shore and spread the virus, saying there were no rats aboard the vessel and describing such a scenario as highly unlikely. In Germany, authorities said four passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship were transferred early Monday to Frankfurt University Hospital for observation. She developed symptoms during the evacuation flight between the Spanish island of Tenerife and France's Le Bourget airport near Paris.