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Australia will take a weighty economic hit from the coronavirus outbreak compounding the costs of the bushfire crisis, the prime minister has warned. Federal Treasury officials are scrambling to model a range of scenarios as coronavirus continues to spread around the world. There is a high level of uncertainty, and the economic impacts will largely depend on efforts to contain the spread of the deadly virus, but Scott Morrison says one thing is assured. "Clearly the global effect of all of this, let alone the domestic, will combine to put, I think, a real weight on the economy," he said on Thursday. "There will be an economic hit because of the coronavirus, just as there will be as a result of the bushfires. "We expect a hit, particularly in this quarter ... how much more it extends beyond that really does depend on how this virus continues to play out at a global level." To date there have been 28,261 cases worldwide, with 565 dead and cases increasing at a daily rate of 15 to 20 per cent. The economic alarm bell follows a dire warning from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that jobs in her state could go within weeks unless the federal government stumps up cash to help businesses survive. The Queensland tourism industry is being bled dry by travel bans with the Cairns region alone losing $200 million in forward bookings, and exporters including seafood producers who service China losing their entire markets, she said. "I don't think we can wait weeks and months. I think this is something that we have to act on very, very quickly," Ms Palaszczuk told ABC TV on Thursday. More Australian evacuees touched down on Christmas Island on Thursday, after being flown out of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the outbreak. But the government is already making plans about what to do if the outbreak continues and the quarantine facility set up on Christmas Island reaches its 1200 person capacity. Mr Morrison says defence officials are working to identify mainland sites to take any overflow, with hotels and mines as possible solutions. The latest group to arrive on Christmas Island are 35 Australian citizens and permanent residents who left Wuhan on Wednesday. They flew out on an Air New Zealand flight that also took 98 New Zealanders and a number of others to Auckland. The Australian group was then flown by charter plane to Christmas Island, where they have joined 241 evacuees from an earlier Qantas evacuation flight. All face a two-week quarantine process. None are suspected to have the virus. Mr Morrison told parliament he had spoken with Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce earlier on Thursday to thank him for assisting in the evacuation effort and discuss a further evacuation flight. "But I want to stress that people should not assume that further flights may be able to be organised into the future, whether from mainland China or indeed Wuhan," he said. "Planning is under way with our health professionals to advise the national security committee." There are now 15 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Australia, with five in Queensland, four each in NSW and Victoria, and two in South Australia. Meanwhile, Japanese health officials have confirmed 20 passengers, including two Australians, have tested positive for the virus on a cruise ship anchored off the port of Yokohama. About 3700 people, including more than 200 Australians, are facing at least two weeks quarantined on the Diamond Princess. Australian Associated Press

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