WASHINGTON — New Zealand will not quarantine citizens evacuated from Wuhan on an Australian territory more than nearly 1,000 miles from the mainland, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters clarified Thursday, following reports that Australia and New Zealand would both keep evacuees in a detention center on Christmas Island.

Leaders from Australia and New Zealand said this week that they were working together to evacuate citizens currently in Wuhan, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the island’s detention center would be temporarily used as a quarantine for Australian evacuees. But Peters said in an interview with Radio New Zealand on Wednesday that he is “looking at the quarantine options within New Zealand already.”

Discussing the evacuation Tuesday, Morrison said that they are planning “assisted departures for isolated and vulnerable Australians in Wuhan and the Hubei province.”

He said Australians included in the evacuation will be required to pay for some or all of the costs.

A Sri Lankan family of four who are facing deportation from Australia are currently the only detainees being held in the Christmas Island center. Their case has sparked controversy in Australia, where Morrison has overseen a tough crackdown on migration. Carina Ford, a lawyer for the family, told Australia’s SBS News that they had not been formally informed of the plan to move travelers into the center where they are staying and that “it’s not appropriate for them to remain on Christmas Island if you’re quarantining people near them for the purpose of keeping them away from everyone else.”