New Delhi, May 18 -- France's Pasteur Institute said it has fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship and found that it matched viruses already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new characteristics that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.

"The analyzed virus corresponds to the viruses already known and monitored in South America," Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Friday on X. "At this stage, no element suggests the emergence" of a form of the virus that could be more transmissible or more dangerous, she said.

Pasteur said genomic analysis confirmed that the virus found in the French passenger matched the virus detected in other cases aboard the ship...