After what’s bound to be the worst vacation of their lives, all 140 passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship at the center of a dangerous hantavirus outbreak are disembarking in Spain’s Canary Islands today.

After being screened by Spanish authorities for symptoms of the virus, they will fly back to their home countries.

Seventeen Americans onboard the ship will be the last ones to be evacuated.

Upon arrival back in the United States, these passengers will be taken to a medical center in Nebraska for evaluation.

Fox News reported:

The 17 Americans aboard the MV Hondius will be flown to a medical center in Nebraska after health officials allow them to disembark.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official told ABC News on Saturday morning that federal officials currently do not plan to mandate quarantine when the American passengers arrive in Nebraska.

They will instead be screened upon arrival in the U.S. and either stay briefly at Nebraska’s National Quarantine Unit or return home to monitor for symptoms for 42 days while staying in contact with local health authorities, the official said.

This Fox News clip has some footage from the scene:

CBS News reporter Ramy Inocencio provided coverage on the flight that the American passengers will take from the site:

The 17 or so Americans on the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius will be the last to leave the ship today after it dropped anchor in the waters off Tenerife in the Canary Islands before sunrise. CBS News is tracking a flight that left Atlanta, Georgia on a direct course for Tenerife South Airport, just about 10 minutes from where the Hondius is disembarking passengers.

CBS News reached out to the U.S. CDC and Spanish government but both did not comment. A local resident here on Tenerife told us that this island “never” gets any direct flights from the U.S. across the Atlantic Ocean – until today. @RamyInocencio is on the ground in Tenerife.

As you probably know by now, three passengers from the cruise ship died after contracting hantavirus. And, a total of eight got sick from it.

Yesterday, the identities of the Dutch couple who were the first people to pass away were revealed to the public.

More on that here:

Hantavirus “Patient Zero” Identified as Ornithologist Who Visited Rat-Infested Landfill Before Outbreak

Unfortunately, it seems like at least one additional passenger may be sick from the hantavirus.

After returning to France, one of the French nationals from the ship has already started showing symptoms.

Per ABC News:

A person who was among five French nationals aboard the MV Hondius has shown signs of hantavirus infection, according to the French prime minister.

“Five of our compatriots present on the MV Hondius, a hotbed of Hantavirus infection, have been repatriated to national territory. One of them exhibited symptoms on the repatriation flight,” Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu posted Sunday on X.

“As a result, these five passengers were immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice,” Lecornu said, adding that the passengers “are receiving medical care and will undergo testing and a full health assessment.”

“Starting this evening, I will issue a decree to implement appropriate isolation measures for close contacts and to protect the general population,” Lecornu added.

If confirmed, the French national would bring to nine the total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus onboard the ship, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.

However, authorities continue to reassure us that this is not the beginning of another p(l)andemic.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told CNN straight-up that this is “not COVID” and that there is no reason to panic or prepare for another round of lockdowns.

Watch what he had to say here:

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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