American passengers evacuated from a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will not necessarily be quarantined, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday (May 10, 2026).

Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also urged the U.S. public to remain calm about the hantavirus, saying: “This is not Covid.”

The United States announced on Friday (May 8) that it would organise a repatriation flight for the 17 Americans aboard the MV Hondius, where three passengers have died and others have fallen sick. The ship has arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands.

The U.S. passengers, all of whom are asymptomatic, will be taken to a specialised centre in the rural state of Nebraska, but will not necessarily be quarantined there, Mr. Bhattacharya told CNN’s “State of the Union” news program on Sunday (May 10).

“We’re going to interview them and assess them for risk. If they have been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic,” he said.

The biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre was activated ahead of the arrivals, with passengers “expected to land in Omaha early Monday (May 11) morning,” spokesperson Kayla Thomas said in a statement.

“One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival,” Mr. Thomas said, because the person “tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms.”

The other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring, Mr. Thomas added.

Following this assessment and depending on the estimated risk, 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,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.

In either case, passengers will remain under observation by health authorities for several weeks to ensure they do not develop symptoms, he said, as happened with seven other Americans who left the ship earlier in the journey.

According to the CDC, “people are generally only contagious when they exhibit symptoms.” Mr. Bhattacharya said the same protocol was followed during a 2018 outbreak “of this exact strain of the hantavirus,” which was successfully contained.

Responding to criticism that there has been limited communication from U.S. health authorities about the hantavirus risk — six years after the Covid-19 pandemic — he said the situations were not comparable.

“If the threat level were higher, then we would have obviously reacted differently,” Mr. Bhattacharya said. “This is not Covid,” he said. “We shouldn’t be panicking when the evidence doesn’t warrant it.”

The United States said on Friday (May 9, 2026) it was organising an evacuation flight for Americans on a hantavirus-struck cruise ship that has sailed to the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain.

“The Department of State is arranging a repatriation flight to support the safe return of American passengers on this ship,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The State Department said it was coordinating with the Spanish government as well as other U.S. federal agencies.

“We are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain,” the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.

The ship operator earlier said that 17 Americans were on board. The State Department did not immediately give a number of U.S. passengers.

Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person — Andes virus — has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fueling international concern.

The ship is due in Tenerife on Sunday (May 10, 2026).

The flight will then take the American cruise passengers to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and then on to a national quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

“At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low,” the CDC said.

Nebraska Medicine, a health care network, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said that U.S. citizens will be cared for in the federally funded National Quarantine Unit.

“At this time, the individuals being monitored are well with no symptoms of illness,” they said in a statement.

The World Health Organization has said that the United States is among 12 countries with nationals who have already left the ship, on the remote British island of Saint Helena on April 24.