Hantavirus fears to see six people thrown in to quarantine at base as fresh travel warning are issued following cruise ship outbreak

Published: 10:42, 11 May 2026 | Updated: 10:56, 11 May 2026 Passengers who were stranded on a Hantavirus-stricken cruise are set to land at an Air Force base in Western Australia and be isolated for three weeks of quarantine.  The group - including four Australians, a permanent resident and a New Zealander from the MV Hondius - will be among the last to leave the infected ship, docked at the Spanish Island of Tenerife, and are expected to land in Australia on Tuesday. Three people died on the boat after an outbreak of the Andes strain of Hantavirus infected eight people. The cases were reported in early May and the cruise has been locked down since.  Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn't easily transmitted between people. However, the strain detected in the ship may be able to spread between people in rare cases.  Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure. No human cases have ever been recorded in Australia. Health Minister Mark Butler on Monday confirmed the Australians - two from Queensland and three from NSW - and one Kiwi will undergo quarantine at the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience. The quarantine facility, built at a cost of $400million toward the end of the Covid pandemic and hardly used, is next door to the Pearce RAAF Base and in Perth's outer northern suburbs. Health Minister Mark Butler said six people from the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of a Hantavirus outbreak, will quarantine in Australia The six passengers will quarantine at the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience (above), next to an RAAF base in north Perth The group from the MV Hondius will spend three weeks in quarantine at the Perth facility. The disease has an incubation period of 42 days.  As of Monday afternoon, flights were still being finalised. 'The flight will be arranged by DFAT (the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) to repatriate those Australians and that New Zealander,' Butler said. 'They will land at RAAF Base Pearce and those six people will be transferred immediately to that quarantine facility directly next door to the RAAF base.' Whether the patients will be quarantined after the three weeks end is unclear.   'This period of three weeks' quarantine will only cover part of the 42-day quarantine period or potential incubation period that is relevant to this particular virus,' Butler said. 'We'll be seeking further advice from the chief health officers about what arrangements should take place beyond that initial three weeks.' Butler added the federal government's main focus is preventing the disease from spreading.  Three people died on the MV Hondius (above) following an outbreak of Hantavirus 'I want to stress that our primary responsibility as a government is to keep our community safe and healthy,' he said. 'We also have a responsibility to those passengers to bring them home and to protect them from any risk of potentially transmitting the virus without knowing it.  'These arrangements discharge both of those responsibilities.' Butler didn't detail whether staff on the long flight from Tenerife to Perth will be quarantined, but said they will be 'subject to very high levels of protection'. The news comes after authorities issued an updated hantavirus warning for those in or planning to travel to Argentina. Smartraveller advised people the disease continued to be a risk in the country including in and around Buenos Aires and Northern Patagonia. The government service said it was widespread in the northern regions of the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, the central regions of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Entre Rios, the northeast region of the province of Misiones and northern Patagonia, in the provinces of Neuquen, Rio Negro and Chubut  It said the virus was generally spread through contact with infected rodents and warned people to avoid contact with live or dead rodents, nests, burrows and droppings. Authorities issued an updated hantavirus warning for those in or planning to travel to Argentina 'Infected rodents spread hantavirus pulmonary syndrome,' the advice said. 'To protect yourself from hantavirus infection, avoid contact with live or dead rodents, burrows or nests,' the advice said.  'Avoid places where dust is raised, such as from sweeping and vacuuming their droppings choose a campsite that is open and dry. 'Don't rest in tall grasses or haystacks and remove food sources that may attract rodents.'  Authorities, including the World Health Organization, are on hand to monitor the evacuations off MV Hondius. Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said the entire procedure was proceeding normally.   The Australian government said officials in both Tenerife and Canberra had been coordinating the response and there will be medical staff on board the charter flight, departing about 1am Tuesday Australian time.  None of the four showed any symptoms of the virus, but will have to quarantine once back in the country.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. 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