Australian hantavirus evacuees start three-week quarantine

Friday, 15 May 2026 13:11

The group of six, which includes a New Zealand citizen, will quarantine in Perth for at least three weeks.

Passengers from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are now in quarantine after a prolonged journey home from a stopover in the Netherlands.

The group of six were among the last to be repatriated from the MV Hondius, and included four Australian citizens, one permanent resident, and one New Zealander.

The flight departed the Netherlands yesterday and is scheduled to land at an RAAF base in Perth about 1pm AEST (11am AWST).

The group has been taken to the Centre for National Resilience in Bullsbrook in northern Perth, where they will be quarantined for three weeks.

The six are undergoing full medical checks, including blood work, which will be flown to Melbourne for processing.

It is expected their results will be returned in a day.

All passengers tested negative for Hantavirus when they left the Netherlands and are in good health.

The group of six were among the last to be repatriated from the MV Hondius.

Of the five passengers who live in Australia, three are residents of NSW, and two of Queensland.

So far, there have been 11 confirmed cases of hantavirus among the passengers or crew members on the MV Hondius cruise ship.

Three people have died after contracting the deadly, rat-borne illness.

It was the first-ever case of a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness.

Health Minister Mark Butler previously said the government was taking a precautionary approach, emphasising that human-to-human transmission of the virus was extremely rare.

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