Passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius following a deadly hantavirus outbreak will not necessarily be placed under quarantine, a senior US health official has said, as authorities move to repatriate 17 American citizens from Spain’s Canary Islands.

The confirmation came from Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who stressed that the situation is being closely assessed but does not require panic, saying: “This is not Covid.”

The passengers were aboard the vessel where three people have died and several others fell ill during the outbreak. The ship has since docked in Spain’s Canary Islands, with US authorities arranging a special repatriation flight.

Bhattacharya said the 17 American passengers, who are currently asymptomatic, will be taken to a specialised medical facility in Nebraska for evaluation but will not automatically be quarantined.

“We're going to interview them and assess them for risk... if they have been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic,” he told CNN’s State of the Union.

Health officials will determine whether each passenger needs isolation based on exposure levels. Some may be allowed to remain in Nebraska voluntarily, while others could return home under monitored conditions if deemed safe.

The passengers are expected to land in Omaha early Monday, where the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has already been activated.

One passenger, who tested positive for the virus but is not showing symptoms, will be admitted directly to the specialised biocontainment unit. Others will be placed in a national quarantine monitoring facility for observation.

According to officials, all passengers will remain under medical supervision for several weeks, as hantavirus symptoms can develop later. Health authorities previously monitored seven other American passengers who left the ship earlier in the voyage.

CDC guidelines note that individuals are generally only contagious when symptoms are present.

Why are US health officials downplaying panic over hantavirus?

Bhattacharya rejected comparisons with the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the current outbreak is being managed under established protocols and does not pose the same level of public health threat.

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

He also pointed to a similar outbreak in 2018 involving the same strain, which was successfully contained through standard monitoring and isolation procedures.

With AFP inputs