90-Second Read: Plane carrying Spanish passengers from Hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship leaves for Madrid

Passengers were evacuated off the MV Hondius following its arrival in Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the West African coast. 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. Spanish passengers were the first to leave, flown to Madrid and taken to a military hospital. Hours later, a plane that evacuated French passengers landed in Paris, where it was met by emergency vehicles.

Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier are infected with Hantavirus. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. The 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. The aircraft carrying the Americans was due to arrive in Omaha, Nebraska, early Monday.

Earlier, one of the five French passengers developed symptoms on their flight home, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a statement, and all were put into strict isolation with plans to be tested. 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. Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings, and the disease is not easily transmitted between people. Norway sent an ambulance plane to the island with personnel trained to transport patients with high-risk infections, its Directorate for Civil Protection told public broadcaster NRK.

From the ship, all of the passengers were escorted to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks. Elsewhere, British Army medics parachuted onto the remote South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha, where one of the 221 residents has a suspected case of Hantavirus. Authorities have said the disembarking passengers and crew members will be checked for symptoms and will be forbidden from having any contact with the local population.