Students beat coronavirus travel ban by partying and dining out in exotic locations

Students returning to Australia are supposed to be isolating themselves because of the coronavirus, but some of them are clearly not.

Holiday snaps show international students who are supposed to be “self-quarantining” themselves overseas to beat the Australian coronavirus travel ban are partying and dining out in exotic locations.

The students are supposed to be using a 14-day period to “isolate” themselves outside of China before coming back to Australia.

The government says students should stay at home or in their accommodation and not attend public places.

Holiday pictures show a Sydney-bound student at the beach with friends in Thailand during her ‘isolation’ period. Picture: Supplied

“Only people they usually live with should stay in the home or accommodation. Do not see visitors,” the advice states.

However, social media posts show some students are using the period to enjoy holidays in exotic locations like Thailand, Malaysia and Dubai before returning to Australia.

Some of the posts, seen by The Australian show a Sydney-bound female student on a beach in Thailand with four friends, another young woman shopping in a Bangkok mall, and Chinese students mingling with locals in Dubai.

A Chinese student, who is studying law in Sydney, pictured in Phuket. Picture: Supplied

A University of Queensland student in Dubai. Picture: Supplied

“We are quite used to the weather in Dubai and we end up going out again,” one student wrote in a post.

Not only that, some of the trips are being funded by grants of up to $7500 from Australian universities, including the University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide and Western Sydney University.

But after a Chinese student, who had a 14-day layover in Dubai, was diagnosed with the coronavirus in Queensland yesterday, the loophole in the government’s travel ban is being called into question.

In that case, a University of Queensland student flew to Brisbane on February 23 after the stopover and became unwell two days later. It’s understood he picked up the virus during his stay in Dubai.

More than 11,000 Chinese university and high school students have already returned to Australia having served out the quarantine but scores more remain in limbo.

With less than a month until the cut-off date for students to start the semester, the country’s major campuses are bracing to lose millions of dollars in fees.

If students stranded in China are unable to make it back to Australia by the university census date, an estimated $1.2 billion will be lost.

However, One Nation senator Pauline Hanson said that Australian universities are putting profits before the health security of Australians by assisting Chinese students in circumventing the travel ban.

CORONAVIRUS SPREADS AFTER GOVT REFUSES TO CLOSE TRAVEL BAN LOOPHOLE

A Chinese student who used a travel ban workaround to enter Australia from a 3rd country has tested positive for coronavirus only a week after Senator Hanson called for the loophole to be closed. #auspol pic.twitter.com/cFYs8KAxGs

— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) March 3, 2020

Liberal senator Michaelia Cash responded to the criticism by saying the government is not “actively suggesting” that students should travel to a third country for 14 days because of the changing nature of the disease.

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“The rapidly evolving situation combined with changes to travel restrictions by other countries could mean students get stuck in a third country,” she said.

Meanwhile, authorities are waiting on test results for the roommate of the Brisbane student who contracted the novel coronavirus, with the outcome expected to be known today.

The student who is confirmed to have caught the virus remains stable and in isolation at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

A UQ spokesman said the student was understood to have not attended any university classes after arriving in Australia.

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said authorities were looking into where the man may have contracted the disease.

“The male has recently returned to Brisbane and we are working closely with relevant authorities to undertake contact tracing,” Dr Young said.

“The male lived with one other housemate in Toowong. We are in contact with the male’s housemate, who is undergoing assessment.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the student had spent 14 days in Dubai. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

“Our contact tracing methods are tried and trusted and we will take every opportunity to raise awareness of this case in the community if there has been any community exposure.”

This all comes as the national total of cases in Australia has risen to 42.

There are fears an infected Sydney doctor may have spread the coronavirus to a large number of patients, after seven more people tested positive in NSW and another case has been confirmed in Victoria.

Forty staff members who work closely with the 53-year-old male doctor at Ryde Hospital have been isolated.

They include 13 doctors, 23 nurses and four other health workers. The infected doctor is in a stable condition at Westmead Hospital

However, authorities say the doctor had already come into contact with a “large and diverse” range of patients in his workplace.

“We still don’t know how he acquired the infection,’’ NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said.

“We are doing an investigation as we speak. He did not care for any of our positive cases but we are doing some additional investig­ations into what patients he saw, to see whether there were any undiagnosed cases.”

A further eight patients of the doctor are showing no symptoms, while 29 other patients identified as casual contacts are being chased up.