Australia confirms 6 hantavirus cruise ship passengers 'in good health'

Australia on Tuesday said that all six hantavirus cruise ship passengers are "in good health," and they will be placed in quarantine upon their return home.

Health Minister Mark Butler said in an interview with ABC News that five Australians and one New Zealander from the hantavirus-affected cruise ship MV Hondius were expected to arrive in the Netherlands before continuing their journey to Australia.

"They were due to land at 8.10 am our time, and they’ll be transited to a hotel quarantine facility while the flight arrangements from the Netherlands to Australia are finalized," he said.

The minister called the flight arrangements to bring the passenger "a difficult" task and said they’ll be back over the course of this week.

Butler said the Australian government was coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs to organize flights with crews willing to isolate after transporting the passengers.

Upon arrival in Western Australia, the passengers will enter a purpose-built quarantine facility for about three weeks. Authorities will then decide what additional monitoring may be needed during the virus’ 42-day incubation period.

The minister said the quarantine response goes beyond measures adopted by most other countries repatriating cruise passengers, many of which require only a few days in centralized quarantine followed by home isolation.

The outbreak, involving the Andes strain of hantavirus, has resulted in five confirmed cases, including three deaths, according to officials from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Scientists confirmed the outbreak was caused by the rare Andes variant of hantavirus, the only known strain capable of human-to-human transmission, usually through close contact.

The WHO said two passengers who later died had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding the ship.