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<\/p>\nSix passengers from a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak are “in good health”, as the Australian government remains hopeful it will finalise plans to repatriate them within 48 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said a French national was in a critical condition in an overseas hospital following the deaths of three other MV Hondius passengers from the rodent-borne illness.<\/p>\n
Mr Butler said five Australians and one New Zealander are “all in good health” and in “relatively good spirits” despite their ordeal.<\/p>\n
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Australian Health Minister Mark Butler speaks to the media about the outbreak. (AAP: Lukas Coch)<\/p>\n
Those passengers arrived in the Netherlands around 6.30am WST on Tuesday and will be medically assessed while in hotel quarantine.<\/p>\n
They will then be flown to the Royal Australian Air Force military air base in Perth later in the week, before being “transported immediately” to the nearby Bullsbrook quarantine centre.<\/p>\n
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The Bullsbrook quarantine facility will be used to house people who were on board a cruise ship afflicted with hantavirus.\u00a0 (ABC News: Mitch Edgar)<\/p>\n
“These are complex arrangements given the distance between the Netherlands and Australia,” Mr Butler said on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
He said authorities also needed to find a charter company and crew willing to operate the flight under strict quarantine and isolation requirements.<\/p>\n
“We are confident they will be finalised within the 48 hour time frame the Netherlands government have given us.”<\/p>\n
Loading…’Highly experienced’<\/p>\n
The six passengers will isolate at the Bullsbrook facility for at least three weeks where they will be cared for by staff brought in from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre in Darwin.<\/p>\n
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The cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by a hantavirus outbreak, at the port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife. (Reuters: Hannah McKay)<\/p>\n
Mr Butler said the staff were “highly experienced in dealing with infectious disease emergencies and a range of other medical emergencies both here in Australia and across the region”.<\/p>\n
The minister said further quarantine measures were possible beyond that three-week period to adhere to the World Health Organisation’s recommended 42-day isolation time frame for the hantavirus.<\/p>\n
He said out of the two dozen countries repatriating passengers from the cruise ship, Australia had put in place the strongest quarantine measures in the world.<\/p>\n
“Those quarantine arrangements, I am very confident, will ensure that Australians can all have confidence that there is no risk to the broader Australian community from this tragedy that’s happened on a cruise ship on the other side of the world.”<\/p>\n
What is hantavirus?Hantavirus is a rare rodent-borne disease usually spread through contact with rodent urine, droppings or saliva.Symptoms can initially resemble the flu before progressing to serious respiratory or kidney complications, with some forms of the disease carrying high fatality rates.Health authorities say the global outbreak risk is low, but investigations are continuing into how the virus spread on the Dutch expedition cruise ship MV Hondius.Plans to deal with ‘unlikely’ infection<\/p>\n
WA’s Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the government was working through the detail of what would happen in the “unlikely event” one of the repatriated passengers falls ill while quarantining in Perth.<\/p>\n
She said Perth’s tertiary hospitals were equipped to deal with a potential infection.<\/p>\n
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WA Health Minister Meredith Hammat said facilities within Perth’s tertiary hospitals are equipped to deal with respiratory diseases. (ABC News: Keane Bourke\u00a0)<\/p>\n
WA Premier Roger Cook said the government had been advised “the risk is next to zero” for people living near the Bullsbrook facility, and in the wider community.<\/p>\n
“The hantavirus is not highly contagious but it is important that we take a precautionary approach,” Mr Cook said.<\/p>\n
“From that perspective we’re not alarmed and people should not be concerned in relation to this particular Commonwealth government operation.”<\/p>\n
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Australia has four quarantine centres \u2014 known officially as ‘Centres for National Resilience’ \u2014 three of which were built during the COVID-19 pandemic at a cost of $1.37 billion.<\/p>\n