ADF personnel to help with WA virus ship

Australian Defence Force personnel are set to arrive in Port Hedland in Western Australia's north to help contain a COVID-19 outbreak linked to an offshore vessel.

WA authorities have scrambled to contain an outbreak of 17 cases on the Patricia Oldendorff bulk carrier anchored off the coast.

No new cases were reported on Wednesday, but nine people remain on the ship as essential crew, seven of whom have tested positive.

There are also a dozen crew members in quarantine at the fenced-off Hedland Hotel and 10 of them have tested positive.

None are seriously unwell.

ADF personnel are expected to land in Port Hedland today and will assist local police and security guards in overseeing the hotel quarantine situation.

The Patricia Oldendorff, carrying 20 Filipino nationals and the captain, is anchored eight nautical miles off WA's northwest coast.

It arrived from Manila on September 16.

Health Minister Roger Cook has said he is confident the infected crew will fully recover and the ship will depart by October 10 at the latest.

"We'll be able to start declaring some of the crew disease-free in the coming days," he said on Wednesday.

The WA government will investigate what testing protocols were in place when the ship departed the Philippines and may seek costs from the vessel operator.

Major ports such as Port Hedland have been largely insulated from potential outbreaks because crews have stayed on vessels.

But Ports Minister Alannah MacTiernan says that can't remain the case forever.

"Quite clearly there is a major issue looming as we are now moving into the eighth or ninth month of the COVID pandemic," she said.

"In many cases you'll find that crews are now coming up to 12 months at sea.

"So I think there's going to have to be a lot of examination and international co-operation as to how we deal with this."