00:01Well, Joe, it's been a real scramble in order to get this repatriation flight together.
00:05You can imagine the logistics behind organising something like this, not only to get the plane
00:10itself, but also to get a crew that's willing to make this journey and also follow all of
00:14the security and health protocols that are needed in order to make a mission like this
00:19safe.
00:19So in terms of the journey itself, we know that a repatriation flight will leave from
00:24the Netherlands today and arrive in Australia or Western Australia sometime tomorrow.
00:30In terms of the passengers on board that flight, we know that there are six passengers.
00:34Four of them are Australian citizens, one's a permanent resident, and there's also one
00:38New Zealand citizen as well.
00:40All six of those passengers were passengers on board the MV Hondias cruise ship, which is
00:45really at the centre of this Hantavirus outbreak, which many nations are actually dealing with.
00:50The World Health Organisation has said that there are 11 reported cases so far and three
00:56reported deaths.
00:57The latest cases, there were two reported and confirmed in Spain and France, and there was
01:02also one unconfirmed report in the United States as well.
01:06Again, all of these people were passengers on board of that cruise ship.
01:10Now, coming back to the six that are actually going to be en route to Australia, the Health
01:14Minister, Mark Butler, has said that they have undergone testing before boarding that
01:20flight and have tested negative for Hantavirus and are, at least at the moment, asymptomatic.
01:27The six passengers are still in good health.
01:31They have all tested negative for Hantavirus and are showing no symptoms as well.
01:37All passengers and all crew members will travel this flight for its duration in full PPE.
01:47There are very strict conditions about the flight, about the landing and about the quarantine
01:53arrangements at Bullsbrook.
01:55And what's the plan when they arrive in Australia?
01:58Well, Joe, once they arrive, they're set to land at the RAAF base Pierce, which is an air
02:03base about 40 kilometres northeast of Perth.
02:06Once they land there, they'll be transferred directly to a nearby facility called the Bullsbrook
02:11National Centre for Resilience.
02:13That is one of the facilities that were propped up during the COVID pandemic, exactly for cases
02:19like this, for emergencies like this.
02:21But this is the first time that this facility in Bullsbrook will actually be used for disease
02:25control.
02:26So these six passengers will be taken there and quarantined.
02:30They'll undergo further testing.
02:31We know that they've been tested already, but they'll be undergoing further health screenings
02:36while they quarantine at this facility for three weeks at the minimum.
02:39Now, we know from the World Health Organization that the incubation period for Hantavirus is
02:44actually about 42 days or six weeks.
02:47And so the health minister, Mark Butler, has said that during this three-week quarantine
02:53period, health authorities will discuss further about the plans after that period is up, whether
03:00or not they have to quarantine further, whether or not they'll undergo different health protocols.
03:05But one thing to note is that none of these six passengers are actually Western Australian.
03:08So one of them, of course, is a New Zealander, but there are also five who call other states
03:14in Australia home.
03:16So they will be, you know, they've gotten off this cruise ship, they've gotten this plan,
03:19they're set to arrive in Australia, but there is still a ways to go in order for these people
03:23to get home, Joe.
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