Albanese Says Quarantined Hantavirus Passengers Doing Well

Australian and New Zealand residents quarantined after returning from the hantavirus-affected cruise ship MV Hondius are in good health, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

“Everyone is well and it’s a good thing. It was a difficult task to take people from the other side of the world to bring them here,” Albanese told reporters in Perth.

The six passengers, including four Australian citizens, one Australian permanent resident and one New Zealander, left the Netherlands on May 14, accompanied by medical personnel.

The Epoch Times understood that all passengers tested negative to the hantavirus.

A charter flight carrying the passengers landed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce in Perth on May 15. The group was transferred directly to the Western Australian Centre for National Resilience in Bullsbrook with no community contact.

Initially, the residents are undergoing a three-week quarantine period. After this, it is unclear whether they will undergo extra quarantine in their home states or at home.

While en route from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Spain’s Canary Islands, the Dutch-flagged expedition cruise ship MV Hondius experienced a rare hantavirus outbreak that affected 11 passengers and caused three deaths.

The incident has prompted significant responses from health organisations and governments around the world.

Toughest Quarantine in the World: Albanese

Albanese said Australia had implemented the toughest quarantine measures of any other country in the world.

“The restrictions we’ve imposed are the strongest in the world, but that’s the right thing to do to keep people safe because we had to be concerned not just about the people who were on the cruise ship, of course, but those people who brought the people back to Australia as well, and they’re all okay as well,” he said.

The prime minister also noted that any decision on quarantine duration would be based on advice from health authorities.

“That will be a matter for assessment by the health authorities. We will take the appropriate advice at the time,” he said.

The Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said on May 15 the full quarantine time would be 42 days, or six weeks, from the day passengers disembark the cruise ship. This includes at least three weeks at the Bullsbrook facility.

At the same time, the agency confirmed that the current risk of hantavirus infection in Australia is very low.