Coronavirus Australia: More than 200 Queenslanders stranded in WA

With widespread cancellation of domestic flights, more than 200 Queenslanders are stranded in Western Australia hotels after leaving coronavirus quarantine.

More than 240 Queenslanders have been left stranded in hotels in Western Australia after their coronavirus quarantine has come to an end.

The isolation period for the 242 Queenslanders, who were aboard the Vasco da Gama cruise ship that docked in Fremantle in late March, ended on Saturday.

But with domestic flights cancelled they remain stranded on the west coast, a spokesman for Queensland Health said.

Virgin Australia announced last week it was suspending all domestic flights except for one between Sydney and Melbourne, saying the need for travel has dropped dramatically since the COVID-19 outbreak, with Aussies told to stay home and not undertake any unnecessary travel.

“As a result of government restrictions, less people are travelling and we have made changes to our schedules to reflect this,” a spokesman for Virgin said.

“We continue to operate a daily service between Melbourne and Sydney, provide cargo transport locally and overseas, and operate charter flights including assisting the Government in bringing Australians home.”

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More than 240 Queenslanders who were passengers on board the Vasco da Gama cruise ship remain stranded in WA. Picture: Richard Wainwright/AAP

West Australian passengers from the cruise returned from quarantine on Rottnest Island. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper/The West Australian

“The WA Government is trying to negotiate flights with the airlines. Their quarantine ended on Saturday but they’re still paying for their hotels and food in the meantime,” the Queensland Health spokesman told AAP.

“In all circumstances, Queensland Health wants to see Queenslanders back on home soil.”

West Australians on the cruise were taken by ferry to popular holiday destination Rottnest Island, while Aussies from other states who were on board the ship were taken to hotels in the city for their 14-day self-isolation.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said he would work to get passengers home as quickly as possible.

“We have difficult circumstances at the moment because flights have been severely interrupted and getting people out to their state of origin may take, in some cases, some days,” he said at a press conference.

“But we’ll work as quickly as we can with the airlines, other governments and those people to make sure their transition is as smooth as possible.”

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WA Premier Mark McGowan said on Monday night that the Government was working with the Commonwealth and Qantas, and even considering chartering an aircraft to get people back to their homes.

“The other thing we’re looking at doing is whether or not we can get the Indian-Pacific back up to do a run or two back across the Nullarbor to get people home, and whether or not we can get buses if we can’t get flights,” the Premier said.

“All of these things are currently being worked on – I just want to get people home back to Western Australia as soon as possible and get eastern-staters out of here as soon as possible.”

After thousands of tests, a hard border closure and fierce social restrictions, WA has become a prime example on how to flatten the COVID-19 curve, with hopes its strict lockdown can be lifted soon.

While other lockdown measures will be reviewed on a monthly basis, Mr McGowan said the restriction he is “not going to let up on” is reopening borders to interstate travellers.

“I think the interstate border gives us the capacity to drive down the spread of the illness in Western Australia,” the Premier said.

– with AAP