Algeria News portal :On Monday, the French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist made a statement about the first confirmed case of Hantavirus in France – a woman who had to be evacuated from a cruise ship, “M.V. Hondius” (ibid).
🚨 Un premier cas positif à l'#hantavirus en #France 🇨🇵 pic.twitter.com/NPvAPVDDTZ
— بوابة الجزائر – Algeria Gate (@algatedz) May 11, 2026
The minister explained in remarks carried by the Associated Press that the infected woman is a French woman who had been on the ship, and began showing symptoms of the disease during the evacuation flight to Paris, and her condition worsened overnight.
🛑 وزارة الصحة الفرنسية تعلن عن تسجيل أول إصابة بفيروس #هانتا في فرنسا 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/te0mBlDoux
— بوابة الجزائر – Algeria Gate (@algatedz) May 11, 2026
This particular case represents one of the five French passengers who were flown back to the French capital on Sunday after being evacuated via military and government planes following the ship’s arrival at the Canary Islands.

The same source noted that under strict preventive measures, the passengers were transported from the ship to the shore on the Tenerife island by a crew wearing protective gear and medical masks in a series of procedures that went on until Monday. For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended close monitoring of the evacuated passengers, while several countries begun subjecting the returnees to precautionary quarantine measures.
