Hantavirus live updates: 16 at facility in Nebraska, 2 at hospital in Atlanta

The French cruise ship passenger who tested positive for hantavirus "is presenting a severe form and is currently in intensive care in a serious condition," French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said in French at a news conference on Tuesday.

The other four French nationals who were taken off the ship were hospitalized for monitoring and they tested negative and "are doing well," she said.

Rist stressed that only people who were on the ship have tested positive.

Through contact tracing, Rist said "eight French nationals were identified on the flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg. A second flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam was carrying French nationals with a lower level of risk, in so far as a patient was present but was rapidly disembarked, which limited the exposure of travelers."

"In total, 22 contact cases have been identified in France," she said. "They have all been contacted, tested, hospitalized or are in the process of being hospitalized and are subject to rigorous health monitoring."

The cruise ship passenger at an Atlanta hospital who reported mild symptoms has tested negative for hantavirus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. This passenger's partner is also being monitored at the Emory University facility, officials said.

Meanwhile, the 16 passengers who are being monitored in Nebraska do not have symptoms, including the person in the biocontainment unit who previously tested positive, HHS said.

There is growing concern around anecdotal evidence from the cruise ship that the Andes variant of the hantavirus may spread easier than previously thought.

"We're just seeing emerging evidence in conversation that several colleagues had with the doctor on the ship, who said that at least three of the people who got infected did not have close contact, and they may have had just casual contact sitting next to somebody for half an hour at a meal," said Dr. Ashish Jha, the former White Houses COVID-19 response coordinator.

Twelve staffers at a hospital in the Netherlands are under quarantine after treating a hantavirus patient, Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans told lawmakers.

"Strict procedures were followed there, but not the very strictest procedures that apply in the case of this hantavirus," Hermans said.

"This concerns the taking of blood and the disposal of urine from the patient," she said. "... The chance that staff were infected as a result is small, but because we know that we are dealing with a serious virus here, (the hospital officials) said we are erring on the side of caution. We know this is a drastic measure with a major impact, but we are taking it nonetheless."