Six MV Hondius passengers fly from Netherlands to Australia after virus outbreak

Six passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius, who previously tested negative, have flown from the Netherlands to Australia

The group includes four Australian citizens, one British national residing in Australia, and one citizen of New Zealand, Caliber.Az reports via French media.

According to authorities, all passengers are in good health and show no symptoms of illness.

Initially, the group was scheduled to travel to Australia immediately after disembarking the vessel, but they were temporarily accommodated in the Netherlands for several days due to a technical malfunction of their aircraft.

According to the report, the flight departed in the morning from Eindhoven Airport. Upon arrival in Perth, the passengers will undergo quarantine for at least three weeks.

The outbreak aboard the MV Hondius began in early May 2026, when health authorities identified a cluster of severe hantavirus infections among passengers on the Dutch-flagged cruise ship operating in the South Atlantic. 

The situation escalated after several passengers developed respiratory symptoms consistent with the Andes strain of hantavirus, a rare variant that can, in limited conditions, spread between humans in close contact environments. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the outbreak led to multiple confirmed cases and at least three deaths, prompting coordinated international evacuation and quarantine measures across several countries.

The ship had been travelling with passengers from more than 20 nationalities when cases were first detected, leading to large-scale monitoring and repatriation operations coordinated by European and international health agencies. 

Authorities emphasised that the virus is primarily rodent-borne, but the confined conditions on board likely contributed to onboard transmission before containment measures were introduced.

Despite the severity onboard, public health bodies, including ECDC and WHO, have repeatedly stated that the risk to the general population remains low due to strict quarantine, contact tracing, and long incubation monitoring periods for exposed passengers.

By Jeyhun Aghazada