Hantavirus cruise ship passengers to arrive in Perth on Friday from the Netherlands, three weeks quarantine

Six passengers from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius will board a flight bound for Australia on Thursday evening after the Albanese Government secured a plane and flight crew willing to quarantine in Perth.

Their return after disembarking the cruise ship in the Canary Islands had been delayed while Australian authorities scrambled to find a crew and a country which would accommodate a refuelling stop on their way home.

The passengers — which includes four Australian citizens, one permanent resident and one New Zealander — were instead diverted to The Netherlands and placed in hotel quarantine but are expected to board the flight at 5.30pm AEST on Thursday.

Under the repatriation plan, the cohort will land at RAAF Base Pearce on Friday and then be transferred 7km to the Bullsbrook-based $400 million COVID-era quarantine centre.

The passengers and their crew will be required to isolate at the facility for three weeks with continuous testing before an assessment is made about plans for the remanded of the 42-day incubation period.

Australia’s plan is much harsher than other nations which have instead opted to place their returning citizens into managed quarantine arrangements in either a hotel, hospital or dedicated centre for two or three days before sending them home to isolate.

The Aussie travellers were among 147 people on board the MV Hondius, which detected a rare case of the Andes strain in Johannesburg on May 2 when a British man fell ill.

It came after a 70-year-old Dutch man fell ill on April 6, just five days after the ship departed from Argentina, and died on board.

The virus is usually spread by rodents but also transmittable person-to-person in rare cases of close contact.

Speaking in Canberra on Thursday, Mr Butler said he and Australian official were receiving regular advice from the World Health Organisation.

“That aircraft is due to land at 4pm AEST in The Netherlands, due to take off from the Netherlands at about 5.30pm today. It will land in Perth sometime tomorrow,” Mr Butler said.

“Obviously, Foreign Affairs and Trade have also secured all of the necessary clearances and approvals to travel from the Netherlands to Perth.

“The six passengers are still in good health. They have all tested negative for hantavirus and are showing no symptoms as well.

“So we’re pretty confident they’re getting onto the plane without the virus — certainly without symptoms but they’ll be subject to testing when they arrive in Australia.

“All passengers and all crew members will travel this flight for its duration in full PPE, there are very strict conditions about the flight, about the landing and about the quarantine arrangements at Bullsbrook.

“At the moment, the first three weeks will be done at a centre. So manage quarantine. We’ll be taking some advice towards the end of that three weeks about what happens for the remainder of the 42 days.

“Australians can have very high confidence that we are doing everything to ensure that this repatriation of those six passengers is undertaken completely safely.

“As I said, one of the strongest responses you’ll see anywhere in the world.”

Staff from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which has it’s headquarter in Darwin, have already travelled to the Bullsbrook centre to assist their 24/7 care.

Each of the 500 self-contained single unit at the centre includes a bathroom, air conditioning, television, internet access, and a small kitchenette with a microwave and fridge.

The Commonwealth-owned facility has only been used once, during a bushfire evacuation, since it was completed in 2022.

In Tuesday’s Budget the WA centre and a similar one near Melbourne were costing taxpayers $9.3 million, even while empty.

Funding for “baseline property and care maintenance” formed part of the Finance Department’s request for an extra $92.9 million over five years.