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Health authorities have urged the public not to panic as patients at a GP clinic raised a false alarm over a possible coronavirus patient.

Patients waiting at the Young St Medical and Dental Clinic became concerned when they saw a woman rushed from the clinic by paramedics about 4.30pm on Tuesday.

Ambulance Victoria confirmed the woman had been taken to hospital. But the clinic, in a social media post, told customers no patient had presented “with any symptoms or history which fit the definition of a suspected case of coronavirus”.

“We have had patients present at Young Street Medical Centre with flu like symptoms in the last week, as we always do,” the post read.

“The risk to the public and the team at the medical centre is low.”

Health authorities have called for the public not to panic, with Victoria’s health website stating it was presently “very unlikely that a person could develop this infection unless they have travelled to an affected area in China in the 14 days before they have become unwell”.

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Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton yesterday said there had been a handful of confirmed cases in Australia.

“Those individuals have been in isolation, any of their close contacts are in quarantine, so the general population do not have to wear masks,” Dr Sutton said.

“We will continue to update advice as numbers change, that advice around masks may change.”

Dr Sutton said the stockpile of masks in Australia was limited.

“We do not want people to be exhausting … stocks unnecessarily, especially if we enter a phase when we make recommendations for people to wear masks,” he said.

The false alarm came after a private Brighton school postponed a trip to China amid fears Year 9 students could contract the deadly disease.

media_camera Young St Medical and Dental clinic in Frankston. Picture: Google Maps

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While China battles to contain the virus outbreak, five cases have been confirmed in Australia. Victoria’s only confirmed coronavirus patient remains isolated in hospital in a non-serious condition, while another 42 Victorians tested have been cleared.

brittany.goldsmith@news.com.au