Four Australian citizens who were on the cruise ship MV Hondius, which has been linked to a hantavirus scare, are set to return home. The government has successfully arranged an aircraft and crew for their journey back to Australia.
According to Health Minister Mark Butler, the group, which includes a permanent resident and a New Zealand national, is scheduled to depart from the Netherlands on Thursday evening local time. They are expected to arrive in Perth by Friday afternoon.
“All six passengers are in good health,” Butler stated. “They have tested negative for hantavirus and are currently symptom-free.”
During the flight, both passengers and crew will adhere to strict safety protocols, wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE). The flight, landing procedures, and subsequent quarantine measures are subject to stringent regulations.
Upon arrival, the passengers will undergo a mandatory quarantine period of at least three weeks at the Bullsbrook facility in Western Australia. The flight crew will also be required to quarantine, either in Australia or elsewhere.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had to act quickly to secure an aircraft and crew capable of undergoing quarantine after Dutch authorities set a 48-hour deadline for their international transfer through the Netherlands.
The outbreak now includes 11 reported cases, with nine officially confirmed. Three people have died.
The MV Hondius, which is registered in the Netherlands, is on its way to Rotterdam, with 25 crew members and two medical staff on board. It is expected to arrive on Monday. After disembarking, the crew will enter quarantine and the ship will undergo what its operator calls a “thorough cleaning and disinfection process”.
“The operation to bring all those on board home in the safest possible way was highly complex. It required intensive cooperation with national and international partners,” the Dutch government said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Dutch government thanks all those involved, including the shipping company, and expresses its gratitude and appreciation for the cooperation with Spain.”
The Australian government has been working around the clock to bring the group home.
“This is a difficult arrangement to make,” Butler told ABC News on Tuesday, adding the travellers were in “good health and relatively good spirits” at the time.
“You’ve got to have crew that are willing to isolate at the end of the flight, you’ve got to have a flight that has some refuelling arrangements put in place between the Netherlands and Australia,” Butler said. “And it’s important that we’ve put those quarantine arrangements in place, ready to go when they do land in Australia.”
Butler said the hantavirus had been listed under Australia’s Biosecurity Act, which allows the government to make quarantine orders.
Hantavirus, a group of viruses found around the world, is generally spread via infected rodents to humans through faeces, urine or saliva. Human-to-human transmission is very uncommon, but can occur through close and prolonged contact, the Australian Centre for Disease Control says.
Still, infection can be serious, resulting in critical illness or death. Three people have died from the outbreak, and a French woman is currently being treated after falling critically ill, with life-threatening heart and lung problems.
The World Health Organization maintains that the threat to the general public remains low, but officials have urged caution.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, told reporters on Tuesday.
“But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.”
Butler said this week Australia’s quarantine protocols would be among the most stringent in the world.
