TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A French woman who returned to Paris on Sunday after being evacuated from the MV Hondius has tested positive for hantavirus after developing symptoms on the flight home, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday.
The woman was among five French passengers repatriated on Sunday after the vessel anchored off the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Atlantic. Personnel wearing protective gear and breathing masks had escorted the passengers from the vessel to shore.
Passengers from 20 countries are being repatriated, in an effort that was continuing on Monday.
The World Health Organization has stated the health risk to the broader public remains low but has recommended close monitoring of those who were evacuated from the ship.
Meanwhile, one of the 17 US passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus, according to a spokesperson from Nebraska Medicine.
Passengers are expected to arrive in Nebraska on Monday morning after being evacuated on a reparation flight from Spain's Canary Islands.
"One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival," Kayla Thomas said.
This person had "tested positive for the virus but [does] not have symptoms," she said.
The other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit, managed by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The 20-bed facility is the only federally funded quarantine unit in the United States.
According to the unit's website, the rooms have "individual negative air pressure systems, are single occupancy with en suite bathroom facilities, and contain exercise equipment and Wifi connectivity for patients requiring longer stays."
Other US passengers won't necessarily be quarantined
Earlier, a top US health official said that passengers won't necessarily be quarantined.
After being taken to the specialized center in Nebraska, "we're going to interview them and assess them for risk ... if they have been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic," Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told CNN on Sunday.
Following this assessment, passengers will be allowed "to stay in Nebraska if they'd like, or if they want to go back home, and their home situation allows it, to safely drive them home without exposing other people on the way," Bhattacharya said.
In either case, passengers will remain under observation for several weeks by health authorities, he said.
Bhattacharya said the same protocol was followed during a 2018 outbreak "of this exact strain of the hantavirus," which was successfully contained.
Read: Hantavirus: 14 MV Hondius Passengers Quarantined in Madrid
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