The man who brought coronavirus to Melbourne may have exposed many others to the deadly illness.

The Chinese national, aged in his 50s, lives in Wuhan, where the new strain originated.

He booked a flight to Melbourne to see family long before he knew he was ill.

Symptom-free, he boarded a plane from the infected city to Guangzhou, a two-hour journey.

The man arrived in Melbourne at 9am on Sunday, January 19, on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 from Guangzhou. This flight included codeshare passengers for Qantas flight QF330, among four others.

— Were you on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 from Guangzhou to Melbourne, landing on January 19? Email rebekah.cavanagh@news.com.au

media_camera Chinese travellers wearing masks at Melbourne Airport. Picture: Rob Leeson.

Still, the man felt fine, so no precautions were taken during the 9½ hour flight, seated with hundreds of other passengers sharing the same cabin air.

The man got off the plane at Melbourne Airport and went to stay with family — three adults and a child. He was tired, so slept when he got home, and his symptoms began to show the next day.

State Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said his family contacted their GP on Thursday with concerns for his health. The man went double-masked to the clinic to be assessed.

But the GP did not suspect he had coronavirus, despite being a resident of Wuhan.

The man returned to the family home but his symptoms did not improve.

media_camera Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos and Chief Health Officer Dr Angie Bone. Picture: Alex Coppel.

HOW TO AVOID CONTRACTING CORONAVIRUS

Concerned, his relatives contacted Monash Medical Centre, and he was taken masked through the emergency department to an isolation room.

He remains in isolation, with pneumonia, and is in a stable condition.

The man’s family was staying inside but had not been put into formal isolation with authorities checking in with them daily to ensure they were not showing symptoms.

Chief Health Officer Dr Angie Bone said quarantining the family and everyone on the flight at the centre of the outbreak was “not a sensible approach”.

The man had not been in any public areas since his arrival, and only had contact with his family.

She could not say which suburb he was staying in.

His family is being closely monitored for signs of any symptoms.

PASSENGERS FEAR DEADLY VIRUS

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said all passengers on the affected man’s China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 to Melbourne would be notified.

But passengers aboard the flight told the Sunday Herald Sun of their concern and how they have had no contact from the airline or health authorities about the outbreak.

Some had decided on their own accord to remain locked down in their homes in case they had contracted the virus.

More Victorian patients were on Saturday night being tested for the virus.

Authorities said “a handful” of concerned patients had presented with flu-like symptoms.

The fresh wave of patients tested was expecting to get results on Sunday.

Caulfield North woman Xinwen Xu, 45, was on the same flight as the infected man.

Her daughter Lyn Shen, 21, said she was “feeling very nervous” after hearing about the coronavirus diagnosis on the news.

The family had not been contacted by authorities, but decided to place themselves in isolation as a precautionary measure, Ms Shen said.

media_camera The outbreak has travellers feeling nervous. Picture: Rob Leeson.

“My mother is feeling well, not sick at all, but still will isolate herself in the house, to be safe,” Ms Shen said. “But she is feeling very nervous.”

Jane Shao, who travelled on the plane with the infected man and visited a doctor on her return to Melbourne because of a sore throat and swollen eyes, on Sunday said her symptoms had resolved completely and she now felt perfectly well.

Ms Shao said she was confident she did not have coronavirus.

Another passenger Juan Yang, 35, said the news she may have been exposed to the virus was frightening.

“I feel shocked when I read the news, I will try to stay home for the next week,” Ms Yang said, adding she had not experienced any symptoms.

Officials have been stationed at Melbourne Airport to inform passengers arriving from China about safety precautions.

VICTIM COULD HAVE CAUGHT VIRUS ‘SECOND-HAND’

Dr Bone said it was concerning the GP had not made any link with the man’s illness and the fact he had come from Wuhan.

She said the department had issued an alert to hospitals and GPs on the virus and provided advice about symptoms.

“We ask GPs to ask people presenting with respiratory illness their travel history,” she said.

The victim never went to the market where the virus is expected to have originated and is also not a healthcare worker in China treating suspected patients, Dr Bone said.

“He’s potentially a second-hand case,” she said.

At this stage there is little known about the incubation periods of the virus, she said, so it is unclear when he would have contracted the virus.

Ms Mikakos urged Melburnians not to panic, saying the risk to the public is “low”.

media_camera Work is underway in Wuhan to construct a 1000-bed hospital by February 3 to cope with the surge of coronavirus patients in the city. Picture: Getty

“There is no reason for alarm in the general community,” she said.

“We are doing everything possible to keep the community safe.”

The recent outbreak of coronavirus China has quickly spread to other parts of the world.

Seven other Australians are under investigation for the virus including five in NSW.

The death toll continues to rise in China, with 41 confirmed deaths and more than 850 people infected.

Construction on a special 1000-bed hospital is underway in Wuhan as the city struggles to cope with the number of infected patients in the city.

Authorities in China have put 14 cities in lockdown, closed parts of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “Australia has world-class health systems with processes for the identification and treatment of cases, including isolation facilities in each state and territory, these processes have been activated.”

media_camera Pharmacy workers don protective clothes and masks to serve customers in Wuhan. Picture: Hector Retamal

“Our laboratories have developed testing processes for this novel coronavirus that can provide a level of certainty within a day,’’ he said.

Minister Hunt said Victorian and Commonwealth authorities would be undertaking “contact tracing” for passengers who travelled on this flight and to provide them with information and advice.

Federal, state and territory health ministers held a joint teleconference to discuss how the nation will respond to coronavirus.

Mr Hunt said “we will be meeting all flights from China” and increasing information about the virus at airports.

Doctors will also receive new alerts about coronavirus, and its symptoms, through the Australia Medical Association and The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, he said.

“We are working with the AMA and the RACGP to ensure that all doctors are fully informed of and alert to symptoms of coronavirus,” Mr Hunt wrote on Twitter.

media_camera Wuhan is in lockdown due to the virus. Picture: Stringe/Getty

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a “level 4: do not travel” alert for Wuhan and Hubei Province in China overnight.

The alert has been published on the Smart Traveller website.

The advice level for China as a whole has not changed.

Australian Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said Victoria had acted swiftly and appropriately.

“Victoria has followed its strict protocols, including isolating the affected person. I understand the patient has pneumonia and is in a stable condition,’’ Prof Murphy said.

“We don’t know exactly how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected, but there is an incubation period and some patients will have very mild symptoms.

“Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting and difficulty breathing. Difficulty breathing is a sign of possible pneumonia and requires immediate medical attention.

“People who arrive in Australia from an international flight with these symptoms should alert their airline, or a biosecurity officer if they have disembarked.”

AIRPORT TRAVELLERS MASKED AGAINST MENACE

Little Tina Wang walked through Melbourne Airport with her father, Tony, wearing a princess dress and a face mask.

media_camera Tina Wang in her mask and Little Mermaid dress. Picture: Rob Leeson

“I don’t want to risk her catching the disease,” Mr Wang said of the five-year-old from Shanghai. “I want to keep her safe.”

Just one of scores of Chinese nationals arriving at Melbourne Airport on Saturday wearing face masks for protection from coronavirus, Mr Wang said he was taking no chances with his little girl’s health.

Melbourne University student Helen Li, who arrived on a later plane from Chengdu, Sichuan, said almost every passenger on her flight wore face masks, out of fear of contracting the killer virus. “They really only took the masks off to eat, otherwise they kept them on all the time,” Ms Li, 21, said.

The Chinese-born music student had been holidaying at home with her family in Sichuan, when news broke of coronavirus claiming lives.

“Mum was so worried about the virus she sent me back to Australia,” Ms Li said.

It was not until the plane touched down that she learned, via a message from a friend, there had been a confirmed cause of coronavirus in Melbourne, with a man in his 50s from Wuhan falling ill and hospitalised.

media_camera Sigi Xu, Sunny Wu, Wei Wu and Minruo Wei wore masks on their flight from China to Melbourne. Picture: Rob Leeson

RELATED NEWS

CHILD HOSPITALISED WITH SUSPECTED CORONAVIRUS

CHINA BUILDS HOSPITAL TO TREAT CORONAVIRUS

“It is very serious to hear that, it is not good,” she said.

Siqui Xu, 18, who arrived on the same flight from Chengdu with her 17-year-old friend Sunny Wu, an international student, and two of Ms Wu’s family, Wei Wu and Minruo Wei, said many people back in China were scared of the virus spreading and of the prospect of more deaths.

“It is not so much the old people who are worried, it is mostly the young people who are frightened because they know more about viruses like this,” she said.

“The young people know how dangerous it can be.”

rebekah.cavanagh@news.com.au