Seventeen Americans Arrive in U.S. After Andes Virus Tests on MV Hondius

Seventeen Americans and a dual British-U.S. citizen evacuated from the MV Hondius arrived in the U.S. early Monday, after one American "tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus" and another began showing symptoms, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based in the second location mentioned by CBS News, and CDC's Brendan Jackson, acting director of the Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said two other passengers were sent there for further assessment and care.

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The flight to the U.S. landed in Omaha early Monday, and a convoy, ambulance and multiple buses took passengers to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where 16 would stay for monitoring.

CBS News said 15 people were taken to the National Quarantine Unit at the medical center while another person was taken to a biocontainment unit, and Angela Hewlett, an infectious disease physician and the medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, said the biocontainment patient was "doing well" as of Monday morning and did not have any symptoms.

CBS News also said there were 10 confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus linked to the outbreak on the ship, including three fatalities: a Dutch couple and a German woman.

In France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on social media that all five passengers on a repatriation flight were "immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice" after a citizen began showing symptoms.

The New York Post reported that a French woman who tested positive for hantavirus is now in critical condition after doctors initially dismissed her symptoms as anxiety, quoting Spanish Health Minister Javier Padilla Bernáldez saying, "They were not thinking that these symptoms were compatible with hantavirus."

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The New York Post said the woman was flown to a hospital in Paris after leaving the MV Hondius when it docked in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday, and it reported she remains in critical condition and is being treated by a specialized infectious disease unit.

The New York Post also said a dozen hospital workers in the Netherlands were thrown into quarantine for six weeks after handling blood and urine from a hantavirus patient without strict PPE protocols, and it identified the Radboudumc hospital in Nijmegen.

France 24 reported that French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said on Tuesday there was "no evidence" of widespread hantavirus circulation in France and that officials were "rather reassured" that the strain had not mutated.

As the MV Hondius sailed back to the Netherlands for cleaning and disinfection, the Inquirer reported that the outbreak had reached 11 total reported cases, with nine confirmed, and that three people on the cruise died including a Dutch couple.

“A Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus, Spain’s Ministry of Health has announced, with the World Health Organization (WHO) confirming 11 cases, including three people from the cruise who have died”

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The Inquirer quoted Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital, saying the French passenger was on a life-support device and that he called it "the final stage of supportive care."

The Inquirer also reported that the director of the World Health Organization said confirmed and suspected cases have only been reported among the cruise ship’s passengers or crew and that "At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Al Jazeera reported that Spain’s Ministry of Health announced a Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship tested positive for the virus, and it said the WHO confirmed 11 cases including three people from the cruise who have died.

Al Jazeera added that the WHO advised returning passengers to stay in quarantine for 42 days, and it said the cruise was expected to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after evacuating its 87 passengers and 35 crew members.