A flight carrying U.S. citizens who were on the ship arrived Monday in Nebraska.
Passengers onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship started disembarking Sunday in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, to be transferred to charter flights back to their home countries.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus onboard the ship has risen to 10, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.
On Monday, 16 American cruise ship passengers arrived at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; 15 are in the quarantine unit and one person is in the biocontainment unit, officials said. Two other American cruise ship passengers were flown to Atlanta "for further assessment and care," officials said.
Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.
Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype, the Andes virus, from South America, according to the WHO.
There are currently no approved vaccines anywhere in the world that specifically protect against the Andes virus, but scientists are working on it.
Read more about hantavirus here.
The Canarias vessel is expected to arrive and be anchored between 4 to 6 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
An official from the Canarias Region government said that all passengers on the M/V Hondius will began to evacuate within the next 24 hours.
The officials said that the government's plan is to not allow any of the passengers to put members of the population into any type of risk.
If passenger is not ready to be transferred directly to airplane of their destination, then they will not be able to leave the vessel, the officials said.
Leaving by nationality, passengers will be transferred to the port wearing full protective equipment to avoid any contact with Canarias territory and they will be escorted by a few buses via TF1 route to the airport, which will take approximately 15 minutes to reach the airport.
-ABC News' Aicha El Hammar Castano
The CDC is alerting doctors and health departments around the country to be aware of the potential for imported hantavirus cases from the cruise ship outbreak.
The agency notes that the risk of broad spread to the United States is considered extremely unlikely at this time.
There have been no confirmed hantavirus cases associated with the cruise ship in the U.S. and at least nine residents are being monitored across six states, but none have shown any signs of illness at this time.
The CDC's advisory to doctors, via the Health Alert Network (HAN) system, reminds them that in the event of a potential hantavirus case, patients should be placed in an isolated room and health care providers should use a gown, gloves, eye protection and an N95 mask or higher level respirator.
Doctors should also consider hantavirus infections as a potential diagnosis if a patient presents with hantavirus symptoms as well as known contact with an infected individual, officials said.
-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud
The California Health Department says they are monitoring one former passenger of the cruise ship M/V Hondius for potential hantavirus infection.
"Local health officials are in contact with the one returned passenger," the department said in a news release. "At this time, public health protocol includes daily temperature checks and assessment for any symptoms consistent with hantavirus, and direction to modify activities."
The department said it was notified by federal officials that a second California resident is still on board the cruise ship.
There are at least nine U.S. residents under monitoring across six states
No U.S. residents under monitoring have shown any signs of illness at this time.
