Coronavirus: Canberra woman put airline, bus passengers at risk by travelling with virus

A Canberra woman was infected and contagious with coronavirus when she flew from Jakarta to Sydney, before spending three hours on a bus on Saturday.

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A woman infected with coronavirus flew from Jakarta to Sydney on Saturday before hopping on a three-hour bus ride to Canberra, putting those around her at risk of the disease.

ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman on Wednesday confirmed the woman, in her 70s, was on Garuda Indonesia flight GA742 from Jakarta to Sydney on Saturday.

The flight landed at 9.30am.

The airline and health authorities were on Tuesday scrambling to track down passengers from rows 41 to 45, who are deemed as being in “close contact” with the woman, who is the ACT’s third confirmed coronavirus case.

Dr Coleman said the woman was in isolation at home after a brief stay at hospital, having returned a positive test at the Weston Creek walk-in centre.

The woman also caught a Murray’s coach from Sydney to Canberra on Saturday, and Dr Coleman said authorities and the bus company would be in touch with every passenger on the bus.

The bus service has seen fewer passengers than usual in recent weeks, with many holiday-makers staying home.

The three-hour bus trip puts all passengers at an “increased risk” of contracting the virus because they were exposed for longer than two hours, Dr Coleman said.

But she said authorities were optimistic few, if any of the bus passengers would actually contract the virus because the woman wore a mask on that part of the journey.

Dr Coleman said medicos and the woman followed all of the correct procedures when the woman fronted the testing centre.

The woman is the third confirmed case of the virus in the ACT, but Dr Coleman said she expected to see more in coming days.

“We will continue to see an increase in cases, it will just be interesting to see how quickly they climb (in number),” she said.

By midday on Wednesday, more than 1500 people had tested negative for the virus and the ACT government was putting in place emergency measures to limit large gatherings as part of nationwide “social distancing” initiatives.