Australia is set to quarantine six passengers from the Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, which has been linked to a hantavirus outbreak. The passengers, five Australians and one New Zealander, arrived in Perth on Monday and will be held at the Bullsbrook quarantine facility near Pearce airbase.
Health Minister Mark Butler described the measures as a precautionary approach to protect the community. None of the six have shown symptoms of hantavirus, but they will be tested and samples sent to the Doherty Institute in Melbourne. The quarantine period may extend beyond three weeks due to the virus's incubation period of up to 42 days.
The MV Hondius arrived at the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife on Sunday carrying 147 people. At least three deaths have been linked to hantavirus, a rare disease spread by contact with rodents. Of eight people who fell ill, six have been confirmed with the virus.
Butler noted that the long flight from Tenerife posed a higher risk of transmission. However, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that the outbreak is not like COVID-19 and the risk to the public is low. Several countries, including the UK, US, and France, have begun evacuating their citizens from the ship.
