French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu Says French Passenger Shows Hantavirus Symptoms During Repatriation Flight

A French passenger repatriated from the MV Hondius began showing symptoms of hantavirus during a repatriation flight, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Sunday afternoon.

“Passengers from the cruise ship infected with hantavirus have been flown home on board military and government aircraft after the vessel arrived in Tenerife in the Canary Islands”

Al Jazeera

Lecornu said, "One of them exhibited symptoms on the repatriation flight," and added that all five French passengers "were immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice" while they undergo testing.

Al Jazeera

CBS News reported that the medical repatriation flight carrying 18 people to the United States would land at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, where the Americans would be taken to a special biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

The evacuation operation in Tenerife is being supervised by Spain's health and interior ministers and the World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while the ship’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions said a skeleton crew would take on supplies before the Hondius began its journey to Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Al Jazeera reported that the outbreak aboard the Hondius has killed three people and that the strain implicated in the outbreak is notable for its capacity to spread between humans, raising concern among health authorities.

France introduced contact isolation measures "to protect the general population," Lecornu said, as medical examinations and testing of all five individuals got underway after the symptoms were detected mid-flight.

Al Jazeera said all five returning passengers were placed in strict isolation, with "72 hours of hospitalisation to be followed by 45 days of home quarantine," while British authorities planned to hospitalize U.K. passengers for observation once flown home.

AP News

The World Health Organization pandemic preparedness chief Maria Van Kerkhove said evacuation efforts would resume Monday morning and were expected to conclude by 7 p.m. local time, as about 30 crew members were to remain aboard to sail the Hondius back to the Netherlands for disinfection.

NBC News reported that 17 American passengers would quarantine at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and that Dr. Michael Wadman said teams would assess them and determine any necessary quarantine measures.

AP reported that experts said the CDC was "not even a player," while health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain’s Canary Islands to meet the Americans onboard and a second team to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

The evacuation operation off Spain’s Canary Islands is being carried out after the Hondius arrived in Tenerife, with Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia saying 94 people of 19 nationalities had been removed during the first day of operations.

Al Jazeera reported that the last flight for the operation was leaving from Australia and that it was "the most complex flight" scheduled to arrive the next afternoon for passengers from Australia, New Zealand and several Asian countries.

CBS News said the CDC was sending a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals to the Canary Islands to "conduct an exposure risk assessment for each American passenger" and provide recommendations for the level of monitoring required.

NBC News reported that the World Health Organization confirmed six cases of the Andes hantavirus and that two people with confirmed cases and one person with a probable case had died, while Oceanwide Expeditions said none of the passengers who remain aboard the Hondius had tested positive or were showing symptoms.

MIT Technology Review said the Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to be transmitted between people and that WHO officials emphasized that the spread requires close contact, describing the outbreak as "a specific confined setting where people are interacting in a prolonged close contact."