Australian government raises its travel advice warning to level four, recommending no travel to mainland China, as Qantas suspends flights

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has announced that foreign arrivals from mainland China will not be allowed entry into Australia, as part of measures to tackle the escalating coronavirus crisis.

Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family, legal guardians and spouses will be excepted from the strict measure, Morrison said.

“In addition to that, there’ll be advanced screening and reception arrangements put into place at the major airports to facilitate identifying and providing this information and ensuring the appropriate precautions are being put in place,” Morrison said on Saturday.

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“There’s a half a million masks that will be provided to those airports to support those who are coming off these flights as well as those who are with those coming from those flights.

“There’ll also be thermometers which are provided to those airports and we’re working with those airport authorities now to ensure we can put those arrangements in place.”

The government has raised the travel advice warning to level four, recommending that no Australian travel to mainland China, following the spread of coronavirus beyond Hubei province.

The PM also announced that Australian citizens coming from China would have to be quarantined for two weeks.

As of Saturday, all travellers arriving out of mainland China, not just Hubei province, are being asked to self-isolate for a period of 14 days from the time they depart the country.

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The measures come after Qantas announced it was suspending direct flights to and from mainland China following bans in the US and Singapore that affect crew logistics.

Earlier, the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, had called on the federal government to halt all flights to Australia from China as the death toll from coronavirus rises.

On Friday the Trump administration announced the US was suspending the entry of foreign nationals who had travelled to China in the last 14 days. It is also redirecting flights from China to a handful of airports.

Qantas says it will suspend its direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai from 9 February until 29 March. Flights to Hong Kong will not be affected.

“Qantas will suspend its two direct services to mainland China (Sydney-Beijing and Sydney-Shanghai) from 9 February until 29 March 2020,” its statement said.

“This follows entry restrictions imposed by countries including Singapore and the United States, which impact the movement of crew who work across the Qantas International network.”

Palaszczuk told reporters in Brisbane on Saturday that she backed “recommendations in relation to no more incoming flights until the virus is contained”.

“I don’t often agree with Donald Trump, but I do agree with the US authorities on this occasion that I think we should take every measure possible to combat this virus,” she added.

Chinese state media reports 259 people have now died from coronavirus and 11,791 cases have been recorded, while a fourth case has been confirmed in Victoria.

The Melbourne woman aged in her 20s became ill two days after returning from Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, last Saturday. Health authorities say she was not infectious en route and is recovering in isolation at home.

On Friday, Palaszczuk accused the federal government of withholding information her government needed to contact travellers who had arrived in Queensland from China.

She said officials had since begun handing over more data.

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A 44-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman from Hubei province who were confirmed to have the virus were recovering in a stable condition in Gold Coast University Hospital.

Seven others in their travel group remained in quarantine.

The Chinese Women’s football team, which was in quarantine in the Westin Brisbane hotel, have not shown symptoms of the virus.

Meanwhile, government officials are expecting the Chinese government to approve a plan to evacuate Australians using a Qantas plane “very soon”, the defence minister, Marise Payne, said.