Australian authorities will place six people evacuated from a hantavirus hit cruise ship into a purpose built quarantine facility north of Perth for a minimum of three weeks. The six passengers, five Australians and one New Zealander, are being flown home on a government charter after weeks aboard the MV Hondius, a Dutch flagged luxury expedition ship linked to a cluster of deadly hantavirus infections.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the group will be taken directly from their aircraft to the Bullsbrook quarantine centre, near RAAF Base Pearce, and kept away from the general public throughout their stay. None of the six currently shows symptoms of hantavirus, but officials describe the move as a “precautionary approach” given the virus’s long incubation period, which can stretch up to six to eight weeks.
During quarantine, the passengers will undergo regular health checks and testing, with samples sent to specialist labs such as the Doherty Institute in Melbourne for analysis. The World Health Organization has recommended a quarantine period of about 42 days for those exposed on the ship, due to the rare possibility of limited person to person transmission suggested in this cluster.
The MV Hondius has been at the centre of international concern after at least three passengers died and several others were confirmed or suspected to have contracted an Andes strain of hantavirus, a rodent borne disease that can cause severe respiratory illness. Countries including several in Europe, the United States and now Australia have been airlifting their nationals from Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where the ship has docked.
Australian health authorities insist that the risk to the wider public remains very low, noting that hantavirus infection is usually linked to contact with rodent droppings rather than casual human contact. Still, they say the strict quarantine arrangements are necessary to eliminate any chance of onward spread and to give the returning passengers appropriate care and monitoring.
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