Australia quarantines six people amid hantavirus outbreak

Six people who were aboard a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak were taken to a quarantine centre in Australia.

This was done after they arrived on a repatriation flight from the Netherlands, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.

The group includes four Australian citizens, one permanent resident and one New Zealander however, all of them had tested negative and showed no symptoms before departure.

Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler said they "remain in good health."

The group will undergo further testing, including additional PCR tests, and a three-week quarantine period.

Butler said earlier that additional monitoring arrangements were being considered given hantavirus' longer incubation period of about 42 days.

"We're not going to let anything happen that doesn't align with World Health Organization (WHO) advice about the incubation period for this virus," he said.

The flight crew and a doctor on board are also expected to voluntarily quarantine at the facility for two weeks. Butler said everyone on board remained in full PPE throughout the flight.

The aircraft used for the evacuation flight will be decontaminated.

For context, hantavirus is a rare disease usually transmitted through infected rodents or their droppings, though the strain responsible for the current outbreak, the Andes strain, can also spread between humans.