Hantavirus live updates: Evacuations begin after MV Hondius arrives in Canary Islands

Spanish authorities are preparing the port area in Tenerife to receive passengers with repatriation flights scheduled for the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands, according to Reuters.

"To assist those European Union countries that do not have air transport resources available, the European Civil Protection Mechanism has made two aircraft available, and the necessary flights for the transfer will be scheduled throughout the course of today, Saturday," Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said at a press conference Saturday, according to Reuters.

"Disembarkation will be carried out in groups based on nationality, as the minister has stated. Only when the aircraft bound for a specific country is on the runway, ready to fly to that country, will nationals of that country be disembarked and taken there, using transport provided by the Spanish army," Grande-Marlaska said.

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