MADRID—A passenger on an Air France flight who showed symptoms of the Ebola virus was rushed from the airport here to a hospital on Thursday, as Spain’s government moved to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with the deadly virus.

Spanish government officials, who came under fire last week for delaying in identifying the first transmission outside of West Africa, said they were trying to move proactively in isolating the passenger, a man who had been shaking and showing signs of fever during Air France Flight 1300 from Paris to Madrid. The passenger, who had recently traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, was taken from the airport by ambulance to Madrid’s Carlos III hospital for testing, the Spanish government and Air France said. Air France said it kept the plane in Madrid, scrapping the return flight, and said it would disinfect the plane before putting it back in service.

The remaining 162 passengers and crew members were released from the aircraft on Thursday afternoon, and those on board who had been in direct contact or sitting close to the sick passenger were identified for future monitoring, the government said. If the sick passenger tests positive for Ebola, the passengers who had close contact with him would then be considered “high risk” for contagion and would have their temperature checked twice a day for any signs of a fever, according to protocol published by Spain’s Health Department.

A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization said that the agency’s protocol also is to monitor passengers who have had close contact with a passenger who is suspected of Ebola for 21 days, which is the maximum incubation period for the virus.

Spain has been trying to take a more aggressive approach toward Ebola after receiving criticism from health workers for delaying a diagnosis in a nursing aide who had been complaining of a fever for a week. In recent days, Spain has said it is stepping up training efforts and more closely monitoring contacts of the nursing aide who had cared for two Spanish missionaries who later died of Ebola.