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Most French Hantavirus Contacts to Leave Hospital Isolation Saturday

The phased releases follow three weeks of monitoring after a cruise-linked outbreak and keep four cruise passengers under extended isolation until June 21.

Overview

  • The French Health Ministry said 22 people who were contacts on two international flights will complete a three-week hospital isolation and be released on Saturday, June 6.
  • Four French nationals who sailed on the Hondius cruise will remain isolated until June 21 because they had direct contact with a Dutch passenger who later died of hantavirus.
  • One French patient has tested positive and is still in intensive care in Paris in a stable condition, the ministry reported.
  • The government applied strict quarantine rules after consulting scientific experts and said the justice system validated the measures, while some confined people have called for less severe conditions.
  • Health authorities noted that hantaviruses usually spread from rodents but can transmit between people in some situations and cause severe respiratory illness, which underpinned the prolonged precautions.