Australians aboard hantavirus-affected cruise ship leave Netherlands in full PPE after aircraft and crew prepared
Four Australian citizens are flying home from the Netherlands after a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, with their repatriation flight having taken off on Thursday and expected to land in Perth on Friday local time, the health minister has confirmed.
Mark Butler said the four Australians, along with one permanent resident and a New Zealand citizen, were all in good health, had tested negative for hantavirus and were showing no symptoms. The passengers and crew on the flight are wearing full personal protective equipment for the duration of the journey.
Quarantine and repatriation logistics
Upon arrival in Western Australia, the group will be transferred to the WA Centre for National Resilience in Bullsbrook, where they will be placed under a quarantine order for at least three weeks. The flight crew will also be required to quarantine, either in Australia or in another country. Butler described Australia’s quarantine protocols as among the most stringent in the world.
The operation to bring the group home was highly complex. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had to secure an aircraft and a crew willing to undertake quarantine after Dutch authorities imposed a 48-hour deadline for the passengers’ international transfer through the Netherlands. Butler noted that the arrangement required refuelling stops between the Netherlands and Australia, and that quarantine facilities had to be prepared in advance.
The passengers had spent up to two days in the Netherlands before the flight, having arrived there from Tenerife, where the ship had previously docked. The aircraft was secured after intensive cooperation with national and international partners, including the Spanish government, which the Dutch government thanked in a statement.
Understanding hantavirus and the outbreak
Hantavirus is a group of viruses found worldwide, typically spread to humans through contact with infected rodents – specifically their faeces, urine or saliva. Human-to-human transmission is very uncommon but can occur through close and prolonged contact. The strain involved in this outbreak is the Andes virus, which is primarily found in South America and is the only known hantavirus that can spread between humans.
The outbreak has now reached 11 reported cases, with nine officially confirmed, and three people have died. Two of those deaths have been confirmed as caused by the Andes virus. A French woman is currently in critical condition in a Paris hospital with life-threatening heart and lung problems caused by the infection.
Infection with hantavirus can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a severe illness. Symptoms begin with flu-like signs such as fever, muscle aches and fatigue, and can rapidly progress to severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, shock and death. The incubation period ranges from one to six weeks, and can extend up to eight weeks. The case fatality rate for hantavirus infections can be as high as 25 to 35 per cent.
The virus was listed under Australia’s Biosecurity Act, allowing the government to impose quarantine orders. The World Health Organization has advised a 42-day quarantine period, with the first three weeks to be served at the Bullsbrook facility. The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the risk to the general public remains low, but cautioned that the long incubation period meant more cases could emerge in the coming weeks.
The outbreak is believed to have begun before the ship sailed. The MV Hondius, a Polar Class 6 expedition cruise ship operated by the Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April 2026 with 147 people on board – 86 passengers and 61 crew from 23 nationalities. The first case is thought to have been acquired ashore, with subsequent human-to-human transmission occurring on the ship. The ship’s itinerary included remote locations such as Antarctica, South Georgia Island, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena and Ascension Island.
The vessel is now en route to Rotterdam, carrying 25 crew members and two medical staff, and is expected to arrive on Monday. After disembarkation, the crew will enter quarantine and the ship will undergo a thorough cleaning and disinfection process. The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, has stated that the outbreak is “completely not comparable” to the COVID-19 pandemic, given the limited transmissibility of the Andes virus.
Other countries have also been responding to the outbreak. Five French nationals who were on board were evacuated and hospitalised for 72 hours, followed by 45 days of home quarantine. Ten individuals from remote South Atlantic islands connected to the outbreak were taken to the United Kingdom for precautionary self-isolation, and 18 US citizens have been placed under monitoring or treatment in quarantine and biocontainment units in Nebraska and Atlanta.
