The first group of sixpassengers holed up in Perth after being on-board a cruise ship exposed to deadly hantavirus outbreak have been released after spending 42 days in quarantine. Five Australian citizens and a New Zealander were quarantining in RAAF Base Pearce near Perth for 42 days after being evacuated from the MS Hondius cruise ship in the Canary Islands in May.The cruise ship was exposed to a hantavirus outbreak, which killed three people and infected 11 others.The six passengers were transported to the Bullsbrook quarantine base for 42 days, which Health Minister Mark Butler said was the “strongest” reaction in the world. All six have regularly tested negative for the hantavirus. On Tuesday, the first group of the six passengers were released from the quarantine facility, seen leaving the Bullbrook centre in a mini-van.The quarantine facility in Bullsbrook, north of Perth, was built at the end of the Covid pandemic and is staffed with health professionals from the Darwin National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre.“(The six passengers are) going to be put into the strongest quarantine arrangements you’ll find anywhere in the world,” Mr Butler said on May 15. “We’re going to have at least a minimum quarantine period of three weeks, staffed by experts that have been deployed from Darwin there, because I’m determined to make sure there is zero risk of this virus getting out into our community.” More to comeRead related topics:Perth