Australians from hantavirus cruise ship to fly out of Netherlands in full PPE after plane and crew secured | Hantavirus
Four Australian citizens aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak, will return home soon after the government provided a suitable aircraft and crew for the journey.
The citizens, along with a permanent resident and a New Zealand citizen, will leave the Netherlands on Thursday evening local time and land in Perth on Friday afternoon, health minister Mark Butler said.
“The six passengers remain in good health, all have tested negative for hantavirus and are showing no symptoms,” Butler said.
“Passengers and crew will travel in full PPE for the duration of this flight. There are very strict conditions regarding flight, landing and quarantine regulations.”
Passengers will be subject to a quarantine order with a stay of at least three weeks at the Bullsbrook quarantine facility in Western Australia. The flight crew bringing them home will also need to quarantine in Australia or another country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had struggled to find a plane and crew that could complete the quarantine after Dutch authorities imposed a 48-hour period for international transfers via the Netherlands.
The outbreak currently includes 11 reported cases, with nine officially confirmed. Three people died.
MV Hondius, registered in the Netherlands, set out for Rotterdam with 25 crew members and two medical personnel. It is expected to arrive on Monday. After disembarking, the crew will enter quarantine and the ship will calling the operator “a comprehensive cleaning and disinfection process”.
“The operation to bring everyone on board home in the safest possible way was extremely complex. It required intense cooperation with national and international partners,” the Dutch government said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Dutch government thanks everyone involved, including the shipping company, and expresses its gratitude and appreciation for the cooperation with Spain.”
The Australian government is working around the clock to bring the group home.
“It’s a difficult adjustment to make,” Butler told ABC News on Tuesday, adding that the passengers were “in good health and in relatively good spirits” at the time.
“You have to have crew that are willing to isolate at the end of the flight, you have to have a flight between the Netherlands and Australia where there are some refueling arrangements,” Butler said. “And it’s important that we have these quarantine arrangements ready for use when they land in Australia.”
Butler said hantavirus was listed under the Australian Biosecurity Act, which allows the government to order quarantine.
Hantavirus, a group of viruses found worldwide, is spread to humans through feces, urine or saliva, usually from infected rodents. The Australian Center for Disease Control says human-to-human transmission is very rare but can occur through close, prolonged contact.
However, infection can be serious and result in critical illness or death. Three people have died from the outbreak and a French woman is currently being treated after becoming critically ill with life-threatening heart and lung problems.
The World Health Organization states that the threat to the general public is remains lowHowever, authorities called for caution.
“There is currently no sign that we are seeing the beginning of a larger outbreak,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday.
“But of course the situation may change and given the long incubation period of the virus it is possible that we will see more cases in the coming weeks.”
Butler said this week Australia’s quarantine protocols would be among the strictest in the world.
