90-Second Read: US citizen tests mildly positive for Hantavirus

All 17 US citizens who left the ship are being flown to the US via a State Department airlift, with two passengers travelling in biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution," the Department of Health and Human Services said on Sunday. Hantaviruses are a group of viruses usually spread by rodents, but in rare cases, they can be transmitted from person to person. The Andes strain of Hantavirus, identified in the shipboard outbreak, can cause severe lung illness that is fatal in up to 50% of cases, according to the WHO. Governments are taking extensive precautions after a multi-country response to evacuate the Dutch-flagged ship at the centre of an outbreak that has left three people dead.

Meanwhile, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia announced that a total of 94 passengers and crew members had been evacuated from the stricken cruise ship MV Hondius following the outbreak of the deadly virus. The vigilant government responses reflect the uncertainty that remains around how the virus may have spread on the ship, even as health authorities emphasise that Hantavirus is far less transmissible than Covid. Previous research on Andes Hantavirus outbreaks has found transmission occurring in shared settings without direct physical contact, including brief encounters in crowded indoor environments, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The second symptomatic passenger has not yet been confirmed ⁠as having the virus.

The French woman developed symptoms on the repatriation flight from the Canary Islands and worsened overnight, Stephanie Rist, the French health minister, said. The US update marks the first confirmed US-linked infection tied to the cruise; public health experts say the infection is unlikely to cause a pandemic. Health authorities have said the risk of the viruses spreading is low. Eight people no longer on the MV Hondius have fallen ill, according to a World Health Organisation update, with six of them confirmed to have contracted the virus.

In the UK, 20 people are isolating at a UK hospital as the captain praised the "patience and kindness" of those on board. The minister said people from 19 countries had departed the ship, which was anchored near Tenerife, on eight private aircraft. The health body said its goal was to finish the ship's evacuation, except for 30 crew members who would remain on board, by 7pm local time on Monday.