The two countries had agreed to work together to get citizens out, with Australia proposing they be flown to Christmas Island

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

New Zealand is launching an independent rescue mission to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, chartering an Air New Zealand plane a day after saying it was working on a joint operation with Australia.

The foreign minister, Winston Peters, said the government has agreed with the national carrier to arrange a plane that can carry 300 people from Wuhan to New Zealand.

There are currently 82 New Zealanders registered on Safetravel as being in Wuhan, and 57 of those have sought consular assistance.

Any additional seats on the Air New Zealand flight would be allocated to Pacific Islanders and Australians “as a matter of priority”, Peters said.

The announcement comes a day after Australia announced that its evacuated citizens would be quarantined on Christmas Island.

Coronavirus live updates: death toll jumps to 170 amid evacuation delays for foreign nationals Read more

New Zealand quickly confirmed any of its citizens evacuated from Wuhan would not be sent to Christmas Island – which was formerly one of Australia’s most prominent asylum processing centres – but would instead be quarantined somewhere in New Zealand.

New Zealand consular officials joined an Australian consular team in Wuhan on Thursday to work through the details of the evacuation plan, the ministry of foreign affairs said, but it appears the two governments are no longer collaborating on a joint rescue mission.

“This is a complex operation as we work through all the necessary requirements but we are working to have the aircraft depart as soon as possible,” Peters said in a statement.

“We encourage all New Zealanders in the Hubei region to register on Safetravel and ensure all their details are accurate and up to date. This will give us a better understanding of the level of demand for this flight.”

Passengers on the Air New Zealand would be asked to pay a nominal fee for their rescue flight, although the New Zealand government would be footing most of the bill. It is unclear whether other governments have asked their citizens to help pay for the cost of their travel.

Consular teams are working with health officials to ensure that the risks of transmission of the coronavirus to New Zealand are carefully managed throughout the evacuation process, Peters said, and officials are working on procedures for pre-departure health screenings, infection control inflight, and isolation of all passengers arriving in New Zealand for up to two weeks.

It was not yet known where the Wuhan evacuees would be quarantined once they arrive in New Zealand, though the country’s director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said teams were already preparing for their arrival.

Peters said it was not clear yet whether New Zealand consular staff would be evacuated from China but all options were being looked at and the situation on the ground was “of major concern”.

“We don’t want to overreact until we know what we’re reacting too, and against,” he said.

On Wednesday, Australia and New Zealand agreed to a joint rescue mission to bring their citizens home, and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said more than 400 Australians would be flown to Christmas Island to be screened and quarantined. Qantas has offered a plane for the mission.

Whole world must be ready to deal with coronavirus, says WHO Read more

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the whole world must be on alert to deal with the spread of coronavirus, and urged countries to prepare.

WHO will reconvene its expert committee on Thursday to decide whether to declare the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Total deaths now stand at 170, all in China, with 7,183 confirmed cases.

Just 68 cases have been confirmed outside China, in 15 countries, but in three countries, Germany, Vietnam and Japan, there is evidence of human-to-human transmission, raising fears over the spread of the disease.

There have been no cases of the virus detected in New Zealand, but flights arriving from China are being met by public health officials in Auckland and Christchurch, and anyone feeling unwell has been asked to self-quarantine.