Australia’s coronavirus travel ban extended to include South Korea

Australia’s travel ban has been extended to people coming from South Korea, with new checks also put in place for those arriving from Italy.

Australia’s travel ban on people arriving from China and Iran has been extended to include those coming from South Korea as the coronavirus outbreak ramps up.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement this afternoon, adding there will also be tougher checks in place for people arriving from Italy, due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in emerging in the country.

“Today, we made a decision in relation to travel bans to continue the travel bans in relation to mainland China and in relation to Iran. We have also today decided that we will put in place a travel ban in relation to the Republic of Korea,” Mr Morrison said.

“We will also put in place what our enhanced screening measures to deal with those travellers that have come from Italy.”

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has extended the travel ban to include South Korea. Picture: Gary Ramage

Korean visitors will be banned from 9pm on Thursday.

Australian citizens and permanent residents returning from Korea will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days when they return home.

People planning on travelling to Australia from Italy will be asked a series of questions and will be unable to board the plane if they fail the initial checks.

If any passengers fall ill during the flight bio security officers will meet the plane when it lands and manage them directly.

On arrival passengers will then undergo a health screening, temperature checks and questioning.

Mr Morrison said the decision to extend the travel ban to South Korea is due to the large number of visitors Australia has from the country.

“So that ban is put in place because it affords the best protection and enables us to slow down the rate of transmission which means that the health system and all the other plans put in place will be able to deal with the virus here in Australia,” he said.

There have been 53 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia, with a 95-year-old woman in a Sydney aged care home becoming the second person in the country to die from the illness.

Workers wearing protective gears spray disinfectant inside a plane as a precaution against the new coronavirus at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea. Picture: Suh Myoung-geon/Yonhap via AP

South Korean army soldiers wearing protective gears spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus on a street in Gyeongan, South Korea. Picture: Kim Hyun-tae/Yonhap via AP

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said it was likely Australia would continue to see an increase in coronavirus cases but there was no need for people to panic.

“At the moment, there is no reason to put a mask on when you are walking around the shops, there is no reason to stop going to football matches or community activities, there is no reason to delude the shelves of lavatory paper in the supermarkets,” Dr Murphy said.

“We should continue a normal activity, we should watch the development of this and we will focus on any outbreaks and control.”

Despite calls for people not to panic, supermarkets have been stripped of toilet paper as Aussies rushed to stock up as more coronavirus cases were confirmed.

The toilet paper frenzy has seen retailers forced to limit the number of loo rolls people can buy in a bid to make it fair for everyone.

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Shelves stripped of toilet paper in a Woolworths store. Picture: Facebook

The PM urged Australians to “stay calm” and go about their business while still following health advise.

“To all Australians, let’s get through this together, let’s help each other, stay calm, go about business and continue to enjoy the most wonderful country in the world to live and that does not change,” Mr Morrison said.

“Under these circumstances, it does not change and we have always worked well together, we have always understood what our responsibilities are and we have always gone about business with common sense and that is what we are known for.”

The decision to extend the travel ban came after Mr Morrison engaged in talks about the expanding crisis overseas.

On Monday, Health Minister Greg Hunt said the travel advisory for Italy had been raised to a level two for the whole of the country, and a level three – which urges travellers to reconsider their plans entirely – for selected towns in the north of the country. Across South Korea and Italy, the total cases for coronavirus has reached 8000.

On Saturday, Australia announced they would ban foreign travellers arriving from Iran, the country with the highest death rate from coronavirus outside of China. The ban also extends to China, which Australians have also been told not to travel to since mid-February.

The ban means that any foreign nationals coming from Iran will be forced to spend a fortnight in a third country before being allowed into Australia. Australian citizens and permanent residents, however, will need to isolate themselves for a fortnight after returning from Iran.

“They (Iran) have the highest death rate … outside of Hubei (province in China),” Mr Hunt said at a media conference last week.