Hantavirus cruise ship passengers headed for Australia arrive in Netherlands before Bullsbrook quarantine

Australian and New Zealand passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship have arrived in the Netherlands for quarantine before being repatriated.

The group of six returning to Australia include three people from New South Wales and two Queenslanders — of which four are Australian citizens and one permanent resident — as well as one New Zealander.

Health Minister Mark Butler said on Monday the cohort would spend at least three weeks inside a quarantine facility in Bullsbrook, north of Perth, so they can be monitored for any symptoms of the deadly virus — which can take weeks to manifest.

Overnight, new arrangements were made for the group to stop in the Netherlands due to reported issues of getting a charter aircraft to Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands.

The Australian Government is working to repatriate the group within the next 48 hours and they will touch down at RAAF Base Pearce later this week.

However, their scheduled return remains subject to operational conditions.

Mr Butler had said on Monday the Australia government would need to secure a crew who voluntarily wanted to assist during their journey Down Under.

Speaking on breakfast TV on Tuesday, he said that crew would also be required to quarantine once they return to Australia.

The group will be transferred from RAAF Base Pearce to the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience, about 7km away.

The $400 million facility was built in 2022 as the COVID pandemic subsided and has only been used once before, as an emergency shelter during a bushfire in December 2023.

Mr Butler said while three people have died and eight have been infected from the virus-stricken vessel near Tenerife — human to human transmission of the virus was “very difficult”.

Mr Butler said the group travelling to Perth were currently not displaying symptoms but vowed there would be regular testing.

Tests taken from the group in WA will be flown to Melbourne’s Doherty Institute, which is the only facility able to undertake the PCR or serology testing for hantavirus.

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

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.