The patient was one of five French nationals evacuated Sunday from the Dutch-flagged vessel, which had been anchored off Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. She developed symptoms during the repatriation flight and her condition worsened overnight after being admitted to hospital in Paris, Rist told France Inter radio.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the woman had already shown signs of illness while the chartered flight was in the air. The plane landed at Le Bourget airport shortly before 4:30 p.m. local time on Sunday.
The four other French passengers tested negative for the virus. They will remain under hospital isolation for at least 15 days, and authorities can extend that period under existing health regulations, the health minister said.
French health authorities have traced 22 contact cases inside the country. These contacts were not on the cruise ship itself. They were passengers seated near infected or potentially infected travelers on two earlier commercial flights: one between the island of Saint Helena and Johannesburg, South Africa, and another between Johannesburg and Amsterdam. A Dutch woman who was on those flights has since died from the virus.
Eight French nationals from the Saint Helena-Johannesburg flight were placed in isolation nearly a week ago. Others have been instructed to contact health authorities and self-isolate.
The government published a decree Monday that allows authorities to impose up to 42 days of hospital isolation for suspected cases. Previously, the rule permitted only three days in hospital before a person could complete the monitoring period at home. Rist said the tighter legal framework is meant to “break the chains” of virus transmission.
The case is part of a widening international health operation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed six cases of hantavirus linked to the MV Hondius outbreak and warned that more infections could appear because the virus can incubate for up to six weeks. Two passengers have died with confirmed infections and a third death is considered probable, according to WHO.
The cruise ship departed Argentina on April 1 carrying roughly 150 passengers and crew of about 20 nationalities. After the outbreak was detected, the vessel was barred from docking in Tenerife. Spanish authorities kept it at sea while a multinational evacuation was organized.
On Sunday, more than 90 passengers were flown to their home countries aboard military and government planes. Evacuation flights for Australia and the Netherlands were scheduled for Monday. The United States reported that one of its 17 repatriated citizens tested mildly positive and another had mild symptoms.
Hantaviruses are typically spread by rodents or their droppings. The strain found on the MV Hondius is the Andes virus, which is endemic in parts of South America and can, in rare cases, spread between humans. Symptoms can appear one to eight weeks after exposure and include fever, headache, chills and respiratory distress. The fatality rate for the Andes strain can reach 40 to 50 percent, particularly among older adults.
WHO officials have stressed that the risk to the general public is low. “This is not another COVID,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday. “The risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”