Six passengers from hantavirus-hit ship arrive in Australia for three-week quarantine

Six passengers from a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak arrived in Australia today, where they will remain in quarantine for at least three weeks.

Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said the government would implement a strict quarantine.

Five Australians and one New Zealander are expected to spend three weeks at the facility, which has remained largely unused since 2022, when it was built due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Six passengers tested negative for the virus before leaving the Netherlands, from where they traveled to Australia, and none showed symptoms, Butler said.

Three people among 11 cases of hantavirus on the cruise ship have died.

The ship was on a cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and then to several isolated islands in the South Atlantic Ocean when the outbreak broke out.