Australia confirms first Wuhan virus cases

Two children with face masks, await for their family after arriving at the Sydney airport. Photo: AP

Australia confirmed on Saturday its first four cases of the new coronavirus that has claimed 41 lives in China, becoming the latest country in a growing list to be affected by the illness.



One man was being treated in isolation after arriving in Melbourne a week ago from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.



He has pneumonia but is in a stable condition, health officials said.



Three other men in Sydney who also arrived recently from China had tested positive for the disease and were in isolation in local hospitals.



"They are not particularly unwell," New South Wales state chief health officer Kerry Chant told a press conference.



She said public health officials had managed to track most of the people who had been with two of the men on their flights from China and none were showing symptoms of the illness.



Officials were still trying to trace the travel of the other man and are waiting on test results from several other people suspected of contracting the disease.



NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard praised the three men in Sydney for approaching doctors once their symptoms arose.



Authorities in Queensland state said five other people had been cleared after they were suspected of infection. (AFP)