A team of Argentine scientists are planning to head to Ushuaia next week to conduct research to see if hantavirus was already there before the MV Hondius cruise ship departed on April 1, officials said.

The team will collect samples and send them to a lab. The results are expected to come back in about four weeks.

The World Health Organization has posited that the first infection likely happened on land before the ship even sailed. But local officials in Ushuaia say they are not convinced because they’ve never had a confirmed hantavirus case there.

“Its been 45 days since the ship left and we haven't had any cases,” said Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province.

-ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic

Officials at Radboudumc hospital in the Netherlands say blood tests show that the 12 hospital employees placed in precautionary quarantine were not contagious to others.

The hospital said the chance of actual infection remains "very small," but the employees are continuing a six-week precautionary quarantine.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

There are 41 people under monitoring across the U.S. for potential hantavirus infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's incident manager for hantavirus, Dr. David Fitter, said in a phone call with reporters.

Those 41 people include: 16 people who were repatriated from the cruise ship and are under quarantine at a Nebraska facility; two who were repatriated from the cruise ship and are being monitored at an Atlanta facility; seven people who were former cruise ship passengers who left before the outbreak was declared; and 16 people who were exposed during travel, including on flights, officials said.

No Americans are positive for hantavirus at this time, officials said.

All 16 people in the Nebraska facility are recommended to stay for the entire 42-day period, officials said.

The remaining exposed people who are not at the quarantine facilities are recommended to stay at home, away from others, with an emphasis to avoid travel, officials said. These individuals are in touch with their state and local health departments and the CDC said it is in touch with those departments.

-ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud

The French government has been tracking 26 people who had close contacts with cruise ship passengers, and all of those people tested negative for hantavirus on Thursday, according to French Health Minister Stephanie Rist.

“As a precautionary measure against a disease whose lethality is estimated at between 30 and 40% and given the long incubation period -- evaluated today at 42 days -- these 26 individuals have all been placed in hospital isolation,” Rist said. “These 26 individuals will continue to be medically monitored and tested three times per week.”

Meanwhile, the one French cruise ship passenger who tested positive for hantavirus remains in intensive care, Rist said.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

The American passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius have arrived at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands.

A total 18 people will be on the American repatriation flight, including the 17 Americans and one British national who is a resident of the U.S., the Spanish minister of health told ABC News.

-ABC News' Maggie Rulli