Australian, NZ Hantavirus Evacuees Sent to Netherlands for Short Quarantine

Six Australians and New Zealanders evacuated from the deadly Hantavirus stricken MV Hondius are now in hotel quarantine in the Netherlands.

The four Australians, one permanent resident, and a New Zealander touched down shortly after 8.30 a.m. May 12.

An Australian government supported charter flight departed Tenerife in Spain at 19.45 p.m. local time on May 11, and arrived at 12.30 a.m. on May 12, official sources told The Epoch Times.

Australia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Greg French met the passengers on arrival, speaking to them at a distance due to health protocols.

The luxury expedition vessel MV Hondius docked in Spain after a cluster of Ande hantavirus cases broke out during its voyage from Argentina, claiming three lives.

‘Strongest Quarantine Response’ of Any Country

Health Minister Butler said Australia is taking the strongest approach of any of the 23 countries repatriating passengers.

“We’ve decided to go with something stronger than that. We have these purpose-built facilities, including, obviously over in Perth,” he said on the ABC.

Butler said most countries were only requiring their returning citizens to go into some sort of centralised quarantine for two or three days and then released into home quarantine.

“The World Health Organization has been clear that people, the countries, and there’s I think about 23 countries that will be taking repatriated passengers back, that they should look at a 42-day quarantine period,” he said.

Butler also confirmed the hantavirus had been added to Australia’s Biosecurity Act, this means the government now has the power to control how the disease is managed including quarantine, medical testing, and restrictions on movement.

The Australian Centre for Disease Control says the risk to Australia remains low. No human hantavirus infections have ever been recorded here.

Passengers from the hantavirus-stricken ship will travel to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia later this week.

The virus spreads mainly through contact with infected rodents’ urine, faeces or saliva, often via contaminated dust. The Andes strain can, in rare cases, spread person to person through close and prolonged contact.