A doctor specialising in respiratory disorders says he and several of his colleagues have been forced into a 14-day coronavirus quarantine a day earlier than specified by the Federal Government, preventing them from returning to their home states to begin treating patients via Telehealth.

Key points: The Federal Government's rules, which require passengers to be quarantined in a hotel in the city they land in irrespective of where they live, comes into effect at midnight Saturday

The Federal Government's rules, which require passengers to be quarantined in a hotel in the city they land in irrespective of where they live, comes into effect at midnight Saturday Despite this, a respiratory specialist says he and his wife have been prevented from boarding their interstate flight, leaving them stranded in Sydney for 14 days

Despite this, a respiratory specialist says he and his wife have been prevented from boarding their interstate flight, leaving them stranded in Sydney for 14 days A statement from NSW Police said officers attended Sydney airport to assist with ensuring adherence to the state's Public Health Act

Respiratory and sleep physician Glenn Rice-McDonald and his practice manager and wife Fiona are members of a group of about 120 doctors and medical professionals who arrived in Sydney last night after spending 10 days trapped on board a cruise ship off the coast of Chile.

There were no confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 on board the ship which hosted a 16-day cruise and medical conference in waters off Antarctica, the only continent without a confirmed case of COVID-19.

After Chile closed its ports to cruise vessels in response to the global outbreak of COVID-19, the group was stranded on board the ship before eventually arriving in Sydney via a series of charter flights.

A copy of the letter sent to some of the medical professionals on Saturday morning. ( Supplied )

The Rice-McDonalds, who operate a private practice together in Brisbane, had booked a flight home on Saturday morning, where they planned to self-isolate for the required 14-day period while treating patients via Telehealth.

Their arrival in their home state on Saturday morning would have been prior to the application of the Federal Government's mandatory point-of-entry quarantine rules, which come into effect at midnight Saturday.

The rules — which require passengers to be quarantined in a hotel in the city they land in irrespective of where they live — were announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday.

Despite their interstate flight departing before the rules were due to take effect, the couple told the ABC they were prevented from boarding their Sydney-Brisbane flight on Saturday morning by officers wearing Australian Federal Police uniforms who approached them at their boarding gate.

Letter says recipient 'may be a risk to public health'

Members of the group, including the Rice-McDonalds, were issued a letter — seen by the ABC — which states a NSW Health medical adviser was "satisfied on reasonable grounds that [the recipient] … has been exposed to COVID-19 and is at risk of developing the COVID-19 and because of the way that [the recipient] behaves, may be a risk to public health".

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The letter also states "I am satisfied that [the recipient] is not complying with the advice and directions of clinicians/will not comply with the reasonable advice and direction of clinicians".

It requires the recipient to be detained at a hotel in Sydney for the duration of the order, which is listed as 14 days, provided the recipient is "served with a copy of an application for its confirmation … within 3 business days".

Medical professionals told to isolate

A statement from New South Wales Police said officers attended Sydney Airport around 11:00pm on Friday night after NSW Health requested assistance to process a number of passenger flights from Santiago, Chile.

"NSW Police attended to assist with ensuring adherence to all self-isolation requirements set out by the NSW Government under the Public Health Act 2010," the statement said.

"Upon arrival into Australia, a number of passengers were advised by NSW Health they were required to self-isolate at hotels in Sydney, including a group of 77 medical professionals.

"NSW Police officers commenced actions to obtain public health orders requiring these individuals to complete their 14-day self-isolation periods at the hotel."

When officers returned to serve the public health orders on these people a short time later, they found 33 had left the hotel, according to the statement.

"Six of the 33 individuals were located at Sydney Domestic Airport terminal by Australian Federal Police officers. These individuals have now been served with public health orders and are in self-isolation at a Sydney hotel, where they are required to remain for 14 days.

"The remainder are believed to have travelled to their onward interstate destinations."

The statement confirmed the automatic public health order requiring passengers to quarantine immediately on arrival into Australia came into effect at midnight on Saturday.

Dr Rice-McDonald said he was prepared to follow all lawful self-isolation requirements, but he did not understand why the group had been forced into quarantine at their point of entry before the rules were due to start.

"We've got a group of currently very tired, corona-free doctors who want to get home, who know we have to self-isolate at home," he said.

"I have literally dozens of emails from my patients who I would like to [attend to via Telehealth], so I can sit at my desk at home where I can attend to them quickly and efficiently.

"We are not saying we deserve special attention, [but] we would like a fair application of these [self-isolation] principles and an assessment of risk and consequences," Dr Rice-McDonald added.

"By keeping us here, it's stopping us from doing our jobs and caring for our patients."

He said he was not able to consult with patients from his hotel room in Sydney because he could only access confidential patient files and medical resources from his home office.

The couple's luggage has also already been sent to Brisbane.

'If anything, I'm going to be an assistance to public health'

Dr Rice-McDonald said no-one suffered respiratory symptoms on the ship during the conference, which started on February 29, or during any other period since.

"We were on the ship for a prolonged time with nobody being sick," he said.

"We were each furnished with a letter from the ship doctor and the ship captain saying we'd been at the ship from that time to that time and there were no known or suspected cases of coronavirus on board … and that nobody on the ship had any symptoms or suspected COVID-19."

He said he found the letter from the NSW Health medical adviser "a little bit hurtful" in its assertion he may be "a risk to public health".

"I just can't imagine how a health officer — a colleague — could send this to anyone," he said.

"If anything, I'm going to be an assistance to public health by attending to our patients."