Australia has extended the quarantine period for six passengers repatriated from a Dutch-flagged cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak, Health Minister Mark Butler announced on Thursday. The isolation will now last a total of 42 days, until 23 June.
The group, comprising four Australian citizens, a permanent resident, and one New Zealand resident, has been held at a facility near Perth, Western Australia, since their return on 15 May. Their initial release date of 5 June was postponed following advice from health authorities.
The passengers were taken to the Perth facility after an outbreak on board the MV Hondius, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde. Hantavirus was reported in at least 11 passengers, and three people died. The virus is primarily transmitted through contact with rodent urine, droppings, and saliva, and can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a potentially fatal disease.
Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the MV Hondius, said the ship is undergoing further cleaning in Rotterdam on the advice of the local health authority. It will then return to its home port in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. A British national treated for the virus in the Netherlands was medically evacuated to the UK earlier this week and is adhering to strict infection control measures.
Six other people linked to the outbreak have left hospital to continue isolation at home, health officials said. Passengers from the cruise ship were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral for checks and initial isolation. The hospital site was last used as an isolation facility at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
