French authorities lift lockdown on British cruise ship Ambition after ruling out hantavirus link; gastroenteritis confirmed

French authorities lifted a lockdown on the British cruise ship Ambition in Bordeaux after confirming the outbreak of illness aboard was a gastrointestinal viral infection unrelated to hantavirus. Approximately 80 of the 1,747 passengers and crew experienced acute digestive symptoms since Monday. A 92-year-old British passenger died, but health officials determined he suffered a heart attack with no connection to the gastroenteritis episode. The precautionary lockdown was imposed out of abundance of caution given international concern over suspected hantavirus deaths on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a separate cruise ship returning to the Netherlands after evacuation. Asymptomatic individuals were permitted to disembark, while infected passengers remained in isolation on board.