A repatriation aircraft carrying four Australian citizens, one permanent resident and one New Zealand citizen tonight departed the Netherlands for Australia.
They have all tested negative for hantavirus and are being accompanied by medical professionals.
The passengers were due to arrive at RAAF Base Pearce, about 35 kilometres north of Perth, about 11am (1pm AEST) on Friday.
All flight passengers and crew aboard the charter flight will be dressed in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and will follow strict quarantine procedures during the flight and once they deboard.
The group will then undergo a three-week quarantine at a facility at Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience.
Health officials will then review the arrangement after the three-week period ends.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a 42-day quarantine.
The Bullsbrook centre was commissioned by the federal government in mid-2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was one of three such facilities designed to accommodate returning Australians, with a similar 500-bed centre built in Pinkenba, Brisbane, and a larger 1000-bed centre in Mickleham, Melbourne.
Three of the Australian passengers are from NSW and two are from Queensland.
The six passengers were initially told they could spend up to 48 hours transiting through the Netherlands under strict protocols before flying on to Perth.
But authorities struggled to find a country willing to allow the charter plane to stop for refuelling on its way to Perth.
Health Minister Mark Butler could not confirm where the plane would stop for fuel.
He added that although the virus was “very, very rare” and human-to-human transmission was “rarer still”, he was still taking a “precautionary approach”.
There are now 11 confirmed cases of Hantavirus, all of which are from passengers or crew members on the MV Hondius.
Three people have died after contracting the deadly, rat-borne illness.
It was the first-ever case of a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
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