MELBOURNE, May 15 : Six passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was hit by a hantavirus outbreak, arrived in Australia on Friday to begin a quarantine period expected to last at least three weeks.
The passengers were flown from the Netherlands aboard a Gulfstream long-range business jet, which landed at RAAF Base Pearce near Perth in Western Australia. They are set to be transferred to the nearby Bullsbrook quarantine facility.
Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said the country would enforce one of the strictest quarantine responses to the virus outbreak.
The group includes five Australian citizens and one New Zealand national. Authorities said the quarantine facility, built in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, would be used to monitor them during the initial three-week isolation period.
Officials are yet to decide what additional precautions may be required for the remainder of the 42-day incubation period identified by the World Health Organisation.
According to Butler, passengers from the MV Hondius who returned to the United States and Britain are expected to complete most of their quarantine at home.
All six passengers tested negative for hantavirus before departing the Netherlands and have not shown any symptoms so far, officials said.
The outbreak aboard the MV Hondius resulted in 11 confirmed cases, including three deaths. The vessel had been on a voyage from Argentina to Antarctica and several remote South Atlantic islands when the outbreak was detected.
Following the evacuation of passengers and many crew members, the ship is now sailing back to the Netherlands for cleaning and disinfection.
