90-Second Read: 17 American passengers aboard Hantavirus-hit cruise ship will quarantine in Nebraska

The 17 passengers will be received at the National Quarantine Unit, a secured facility on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus in Omaha, said Dr. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Friday that none of the passengers who remain aboard the Hondius have tested positive for Hantavirus or are showing symptoms. The WHO and health officials in numerous countries have stressed that the risk of the outbreak spreading to wider populations is low and that Hantavirus is only transmitted through close personal contact, unlike airborne diseases such as Covid-19. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet the American passengers there, an agency official confirmed to NBC News. Six cases of the Andes Hantavirus have been confirmed and two cases are probable, the World Health Organization.

Two people with confirmed cases and one person with a probable case have died, it said, as countries around the world seek to trace and monitor passengers who left the Hondius at points along its voyage. The woman was "sitting two rows behind the person who died from Hantavirus, a person who tested positive, having had only brief contact as they were on board the plane for a short time," Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla told a news conference. The plan will require passengers and staff who were aboard the ship between April 1 and May 10 — or who had close contact with a confirmed case — to quarantine at a Madrid military hospital under active monitoring. On Friday, British authorities confirmed a new suspected case on.

All of the people being transported to Nebraska are in good health and are asymptomatic, but should anyone be diagnosed with the virus, they would would be moved to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, said Dr. Spanish officials said a woman from Alicante who was on the same flight as a passenger who later died of Hantavirus is being treated at a hospital for a suspected infection. Public health officials will be hoping for a similar result from the patient in Spain, which would help dampen fears that the virus has spread beyond the passengers on the Hondius. In Tenerife, some residents are anxious about the disembarkation and what it would mean for the island and its tourism industry if Hantavirus were to spread there. The Spanish Health Ministry said in.

A WHO investigation is underway to identify the source of the Hantavirus outbreak, which is rare but endemic in parts of Argentina where the Hondius began its voyage. He assured his followers that he is "fit, fine, and doing well" and said there were no additional Hantavirus cases. The Hondius is making its way from Cape Verde, in western Africa, to the Canary Islands ahead of its planned docking at Tenerife, when the WHO, alongside Dutch, British and Spanish officials, will also collaborate in the evacuation and testing of the remaining passengers. Passengers will remain in single rooms without visitors," the health ministry said in a news release. At least seven Americans who were on the vessel are isolating at home across five states, and none show any symptoms of.