One French and one US national test positive for hantavirus, quarantined in home countries

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]And the US and France confirming [music] more cases of hantavirus on passengers evacuated from the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak. Spain, [music] where the vessel docked for evacuation, says it has taken all measures to prevent hantavirus from spreading.

[00:00:16]And both confirmed cases are back in their home countries and now under quarantine. The French woman was one of five passengers from France evacuated from MV Hondius. She started to feel unwell last night before her test came back positive. In the US, the health department confirmed an American evacuee had tested positive, while another cruise passenger is exhibiting mild symptoms. Australia also preparing for the return of six people from the cruise ship. Four Australian citizens, one permanent resident, and a New Zealander will be sent to a center in Western Australia, originally built to quarantine COVID patients. They will remain there for at least 3 weeks. The final 22 people to leave the ship will be taking a plane to the Netherlands.

[00:01:04]The World Health Organization says seven people have the Andes strain of the hantavirus, with two more suspected cases.

[00:01:12]And for more, we have Ross Cullen covering developments for CNA live from Paris. Ross, what more do we know about the confirmed case in France?

[00:01:25]Well, hi Angela. I'm here outside the Bichat Hospital. You can see it behind me. This is where the five French citizens who were flown back from Tenerife in the Canary Islands to Paris.

[00:01:39]This is where the five of them are being kept in isolation. This is also where the one French woman who has tested positive for the hantavirus, where she is being treated. The French health minister saying that she started to feel unwell unwell on that flight to Paris, and her condition has deteriorated overnight. So, she is being watched by doctors and the other patients who have been potentially close contacts. They are being kept in isolation. More than 20 other people elsewhere in France have been contacted by the French medical authorities to say that they are close contacts. Perhaps they were on the flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam with other people who'd been on the cruise ship. So, they're being urged to self-isolate and there will be an update from the French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu a little bit later on this afternoon. Right. Now, Ross, what are the next steps then for the others who were evacuated from the ship?

[00:02:43]Well, we've had the Netherlands also evacuating some of its some of its citizens from the MV Ondine. So far, three people have died. It's a German woman and a Dutch couple so far who've lost their lives to this outbreak of hantavirus. There are many other European countries that are following a strict protocols. We've seen that from Spain. We've seen that from France as well to ensure that any of their citizens who were passengers on board the cruise ship who may not have come into close contact with someone with hantavirus are being monitored as closely as possible. The WHO is there in the Canary Islands to try to oversee this process. Hantavirus does have roughly 40% mortality rate. Some some 40% of people who do contract the virus do die as a result of the disease. It can be many weeks the incubation rate for the virus, but the WHO is believing that this is not a new pandemic, but there are increasing numbers of people now in the United States and here in France who are testing positive. Angela.

[00:03:53]Ross, thank you so much for bringing us the latest. That was Ross Cullen covering developments from CNE live from Paris.