Last two evacuation flights from hantavirus-hit ship to depart Monday afternoon

The final two flights to evacuate passengers from the cruise ship, hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, docked near Tenerife, will depart on Monday afternoon, Spain's health minister said on Sunday evening, adding that 94 passengers had been evacuated so far.

One flight from Australia will carry six passengers, and another from the Netherlands will carry 18 passengers.

Both flights are also carrying passengers from other countries that did not send their own repatriation flights, officials have said.

The Australian government have said on Monday that it would repatriate its citizens from a Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly strain of hantavirus, with the passengers to be quarantined after they arrive in the country.

"We have agreed to repatriate a small number of Australians... and also one resident of another country to Australia for medical treatment," Environment Minister Murray Watt told ABC News. He did not give the nationality of the extra person.

It was not known if any of the people being brought to Australia have fallen ill or were showing symptoms of the virus. The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request seeking more details about the evacuation.

Eight people no longer on the MV Hondius have fallen ill, according to a World Health Organisation tally from Friday, of which six are confirmed to have contracted the virus. Three have died, a Dutch couple and a German national.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said on Sunday that out of 17 Americans being repatriated from a hantavirus-struck cruise ship, one has mild symptoms and another has tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes strain of the virus.

All the US citizens are being airlifted to the United States, and the two passengers with symptoms are travelling in the plane's biocontainment units, HHS added. The second symptomatic passenger has not yet been confirmed as having the virus.

New Zealand said discussions were ongoing with international partners on options to repatriate a New Zealander aboard the cruise ship.

Director of Public Health Corina Grey said in a statement on Monday that the country's health services had the capacity to support any quarantine measures if required.

The WHO has recommended a 42-day quarantine for all passengers, though global health experts have urged calm, reminding the public scarred from the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic that this virus was far less contagious and posed little risk to the general population.