Quarantined Aussies home bound after Hantavirus cruise nightmare

Australians stranded on the MV Hondius after a deadly hantavirus outbreak are now taking their first steps toward returning home, after their expected repatriation flight did not arrive as initially planned.

Four Australians and two New Zealanders have been evacuated from the cruise ship, where three people have died and several others have been infected.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the passengers were instead travelling to the Netherlands, where arrangements for the next stage of their journey to Western Australia would be completed.

“They were due to land at 8.10am (AEST time), and they will be transited to a hotel quarantine facility while the flight arrangements from the Netherlands to Australia are finalised,” he said.

“This is a difficult arrangement to make.”

Medical staff will be on board to monitor and assist the passengers. They are expected to remain in the Netherlands for no more than 48 hours before beginning the final leg to Australia.

“So, over the next 24 to 48 hours, we expect them to start their flight back to Australia,” Mr Butler said.

The group is expected to arrive later this week at RAAF Base Pearce in Perth’s northeast. From there, the passengers and flight crew will be taken directly to the nearby Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience, where the passengers will begin quarantine.

The returned travellers are expected to remain in quarantine for three weeks. Mr Butler said Australia was taking a tougher approach than many other countries because of the risk of transmission.

“Most countries are only requiring their returning citizens to go into some sort of centralised quarantine, like a hospital or a centre like the one we’re using in Western Australia, for two or three days, and then they’ll be released to home quarantine – obviously subject to monitoring arrangements,” he said.

“We’ve decided to go with something stronger than that.”

He said specialist teams, including critical care and trauma response crews, would help support the passengers during quarantine.

”This is probably the strongest quarantine response of any country that is taking passengers back from this cruise ship,” Mr Butler told the ABC.

Australian Medical Association WA president Kyle Hoath said the group would be housed in a “purpose built quarantine facility” in Bullsbrook, about 40km north of Perth.

“Quarantine will go for three weeks, which we know at this stage is only part of the suspected incubation period of 42 days,” Dr Hoath said.

“That’ll (be) reassessed to ensure that the right decisions are made around whether or not that quarantine needs to extend.”

The repatriation operation has been complicated by the long distance involved and the need to meet strict health advice around refuelling and transport. None of the repatriated passengers are showing symptoms, but medical personnel will remain on board to observe them.

Mr Butler said the group includes three NSW residents, two Queensland residents and one New Zealand resident, all of whom will quarantine at the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience for at least three weeks.

The facility, built beside RAAF Base Pearce during the Covid pandemic, was never used at the time. Mr Butler said the charter flight arranged by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would land at the air base before the six passengers were moved straight to the centre next door.

“People might recall this is one of the quarantine facilities, or the centres for national resilience that were set up at the back end of the last pandemic,” he said.

“It is still there. It is able to operate. It is currently owned by the Commonwealth government, and will be operated, operated in partnership with WA Health.

“This period of three weeks quarantine will obviously only cover part of the 42-day quarantine period, or potential incubation period that that is understood to be relevant to this particular virus.

“As we move into that three-week period, we’ll be seeking further advice from the chief health officers, through the AHPC about what arrangements should take place beyond that initial three weeks.”

Mr Butler said the passengers would undergo testing while in quarantine, with further measures to be put in place once they return home to NSW and Queensland.

“That is why we’ve decided to take this precautionary approach to activate the Centre for National Resilience, which was set up precisely for this purpose to keep our community safe and we’ll be monitoring those arrangements over the coming days,” he said.

He said Australia had a responsibility both to bring the passengers home and to protect the community from even a small chance of unknowingly spreading the virus.

A federal government spokesman said consular officers from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Tenerife and Canberra had been coordinating the response.

“The Australian government is working closely with state authorities to co-ordinate arrival, health and transport arrangements.

“Quarantine and health arrangements are managed by states in accordance with their public health requirements.”

Authorities have also put measures in place to ensure the group does not mix with the general public. They will be moved directly from the charter flight to transport taking them to quarantine.

The Australians being repatriated, including one permanent resident, live in NSW and Queensland. Once they arrive, responsibility for health monitoring, quarantine and testing will pass to the relevant state governments.

Their departure from Tenerife is part of the final evacuations from the MV Hondius, which is due to return to the Netherlands. The three passengers who died were a German woman and two Dutch nationals.

Meanwhile, France is also repatriating five French citizens from the ship. One is symptomatic, and French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said all five were receiving medical treatment and would be placed “in strict isolation until further notice”.

Updated Smartraveller advice issued on Monday warned that hantavirus remains a risk in Argentina, including “in and around Buenos Aires and northern Patagonia”.

“Avoid contact with live or dead rodents, nests, burrows and droppings,” the advice said.