Hantavirus live updates: 2 infected patients in isolation in Dutch hospitals, officials say

Texas' Health and Humans Services said Thursday that it is monitoring two residents who were previously passengers on the MV Hondius.

The department said the passengers left the ship and returned to the U.S. before the outbreak was identified.

"Public health workers in Texas have reached the two individuals, and they report they are not experiencing any symptoms and did not have any contact with a sick person while aboard the ship. They have agreed to monitor themselves for symptoms with daily temperature checks and contact public health officials at any sign of a possible illness," the agency said.

California, Arizona and Georgia health officials are also monitoring residents associated with the MV Hondius for potential hantavirus infections.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud

The French Health Ministry issued a statement Thursday confirming that a French national has been tested for hantavirus after they displayed mild symptoms.

The unidentified person had been in contact with a confirmed hantavirus case who flew from Saint Helena to Johannesburg, according to the statement.

Eight other French nationals who were not passengers aboard the MV Hondius have been identified as contacts of a confirmed case after the infected person left the ship during a flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg, according to the French Health ministry.

"Following the appearance of mild symptoms in one of these individuals, diagnostic testing is underway and isolation measures have been implemented," the statement said.

The news brings the number of hantavirus cases associated with the MV Hondius to six confirmed and six suspected.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands said in a statement Thursday that it has admitted a patient with the hantavirus.

The patient arrived at the hospital Wednesday, according to LUMC.

"The department where the patient is admitted is prepared to care for patients with severe infectious diseases. During the treatment of a patient with a suspected serious contagious disease at LUMC, all precautionary measures are taken to prevent spread," the hospital said.

There are now six confirmed hantavirus cases and five suspected.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said Thursday that the current hantavirus outbreak onboard the MV Hondius is not the same as the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I want to be unequivocal here. This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic," Van Kerkhove said. "This is an outbreak that we see on a ship."

Van Kerkhove further noted that hantavirus doesn't spread in the same way coronaviruses do, but rather requires "close, intimate contact."

Anais Legand with the WHO said that a ship makes “a very specific environment” for transmission, but that there was no indication that there is something unusual about the virus.

-ABC News' Joseph Simonetti and Zoe Magee