90-Second Read: US sending charter flight to bring Americans home from Hantavirus cruise ship

The US is sending a charter aircraft to bring home some Americans from a cruise ship where a Hantavirus outbreak killed three people and infected several others, authorities say. Officials have confirmed five of the eight suspected Hantavirus cases linked to the outbreak. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said on Friday that two state residents may have been exposed during a flight with a passenger infected with Hantavirus after leaving the cruise.

Officials say at least six US states are monitoring for possible cases after several passengers from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius returned home. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified the ⁠Hantavirus outbreak as a "Level 3" emergency response, its lowest ⁠tier. The CDC is sending staff to the Canary Islands to escort American passengers home on a charter flight, the agency said on Friday.

Officials have not yet confirmed how the outbreak began, but Hantavirus is typically spread by rodents. The World Health Organization says the current outbreak is unlikely to become a pandemic like Covid-19 because this strain of Hantavirus spreads through "close, intimate contact". The luxury cruise, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April and is due to arrive in Spain's Canary Islands in the early hours of Sunday.