Hantavirus live updates: Evacuations begin after MV Hondius arrives in Canary Islands

WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Saturday the port in Tenerife that is slated to receive the cruise ship and assured local residents the risk to the local population is low and that Tenerife is prepared.

The WHO director appeared at a short press briefing alongside Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia and other Spanish authorities.

The WHO director said the risk to the local population is low because of the nature of the disease and because the Spanish government has made preparations. But he added concern is legitimate because of the trauma of COVID and decided to go to Tenerife to "be on the side of the people."

Following the disembarkation of passengers, it is expected there will be six repatriation flights to elsewhere in the European Union and four non-EU flights.

Spanish passengers are set to be the first to disembark, according to the Spanish health minister, who said the passengers will be flown to Madrid to quarantine at the city’s Gomez-Ulla military hospital.

The minister said no one on board the ship has any symptoms.

-ABC News' Claire Bower

A CDC official said Saturday the federal government doesn't plan to have the repatriated American cruise ship passengers quarantine upon arrival in Nebraska.

"We are not quarantining anybody,” a CDC official told reporters on a call Saturday.

As of Saturday none of the 17 Americans aboard the cruise have tested positive for the hantavirus, according to CDC officials.

When asked if passengers will be tested, a CDC official said, "it is not recommended to test people that do not have symptoms."

Federal officials walked through their plan for the passengers.

Each passenger is set to be evaluated upon arrival in the U.S., and they may opt to go home and watch for any potential symptoms for 42 days while staying in touch with their state or local health departments, the officials said.

Officials may recommend that passengers doing home-based monitoring limit their activities outside the house to those that don't involve extensive interactions with other people.

While the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska will be available to them, there are no plans to mandate quarantine, according to officials. The officials said they hope the passengers will be in Nebraska for a limited amount of time.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud

Spanish authorities are preparing the port area in Tenerife to receive passengers with repatriation flights scheduled for the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands, according to Reuters.

"To assist those European Union countries that do not have air transport resources available, the European Civil Protection Mechanism has made two aircraft available, and the necessary flights for the transfer will be scheduled throughout the course of today, Saturday," Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said at a press conference Saturday, according to Reuters.

"Disembarkation will be carried out in groups based on nationality, as the minister has stated. Only when the aircraft bound for a specific country is on the runway, ready to fly to that country, will nationals of that country be disembarked and taken there, using transport provided by the Spanish army," Grande-Marlaska said.

The vessel is expected to arrive in Tenerife and be anchored between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. local time Sunday, according to the health ministry in Madrid.

Fourteen Spanish passengers will be the first to be transferred to the Port of Granadilla.

-ABC News' Aicha Elhammar