Perth facility where Aussies and New Zealander will be quarantined after being stranded on hantavirus cruise ship
Six passengers from Australia and New Zealand will be quarantined at a facility in Perth after being stranded on a cruise ship exposed to the deadly hantavirus.
The passengers are being flown back to Australia and are expected to land at the Royal Australian Air Force base at Pearce, which is adjacent to the facility.
Once off the plane, passengers will be taken directly to Bullsbrook National Resilience Center and asked to stay there for at least three weeks.
The charter flight from Tenerife, where MV Hondius is docked, is expected to depart at 03.20am (AEST) on Tuesday.
Passengers will transit through the Netherlands and continue their journey to Australia within 48 hours under strict conditions.
Medical personnel will be on flights to monitor and assist passengers.
Passengers are expected to arrive in Pearce later this week.
Passengers and flight crew will be transported to Bullsbrook hub for isolation.
Bullsbrook National Resilience Center
Construction of the 500-bed facility was completed in October 2022 as part of the country’s Covid-19 response, but it was never fully utilized.
It was purpose-built for long-term residence and included on-site medical facilities, ventilation systems to prevent cross-contamination and separate staff areas in response to the Covid outbreak.
The Western Australian government will operate the $400 million center until 2023, and it has previously been flagged as a potential crisis accommodation or prison facility to house prisoners.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said an order would be made within the next 24 hours for Australians and New Zealanders to quarantine at the Commonwealth-owned centre, which will be operated by WA Health, during the quarantine period.
“As we move into this three-week period, we will be seeking further advice from chief health officers through the Australian Health Protection Committee on what regulation should be made beyond that,” he said.
“I want to emphasize that our primary responsibility as a government is to ensure that our society remains safe and healthy.
“We also have a responsibility to these travelers to bring them home and protect them from the risk of unknowingly transmitting the virus, no matter how small.
“Therefore, we have decided to take this precautionary approach to activate the National Resilience Center, which was established for exactly this purpose, to keep our community safe, and we will be monitoring these regulations over the next few days.”
A WA Health spokesperson said they would provide support in response to the repatriation of Hondius passengers.
“The Australian government has confirmed that none of the passengers repatriated to Australia showed symptoms of the virus,” a spokesman said.
“To support the safe return of these passengers, they will be accompanied by appropriate personnel wearing personal protective equipment.”
WA’s chief health officer Clare Huppatz reassured the community that the rare disease posed no risk to them given the quarantine provisions.
“WA Health will continue to monitor the situation and provide appropriate support and public health advice,” Dr Huppatz said.
“This is a very rare disease, and human-to-human transmission is even rarer.”
