Australian cruise passengers arrive to Darwin after Diamond Princess virus outbreak ordeal
A rescue mission of Australian cruise ship passengers from Japan has officially landed in Darwin, but the flight wasn’t free from drama.
The Qantas coronavirus rescue flight, carrying about 180 citizens and permanent residents on board from Japan, has landed in Australia.
Qantas flight 6032 touched down in Darwin at 8.11am local time, after being slightly delayed from takeoff our of Haneda.
The last-minute drama hit the rescue mission when 10 Australians, who were set to leave the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess ship and head to the airport, were told they had tested positive to coronavirus and had to stay behind.
About 180 citizens and permanent residents, who have spent the past fortnight on the quarantined cruise ship off the coast of Japan, had taken up the Federal Government’s offer of a seat on the repatriation flight to Australia.
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We were pushing our bags out when the call came with our test results from Monday’s sampling. Kaitlyn has tested positive. We will not be taking the flight tonight. Our family will stay together #hangintherediamondprincess #quarantine https://t.co/T9E4F2ygxm pic.twitter.com/P3euQqFXZH
— Aun Na Tan (@qtiepie) February 19, 2020
They join another 36 Australians who contracted coronavirus on the Diamond Princess and are being treated in Japan. About 15 of their relatives declined the offer of repatriation to stay with them.
The Australians on board will be screened for coronavirus five times before they are taken to a quarantine facility at Howard Springs, near Darwin, where they will spend the next two weeks in isolation.
Qantas boss Alan Joyce praised the crew who took part in the repatriation flight as well as two previous Qantas chartered flights that brought Australians home from virus epicentre Wuhan.
“It took literally thousands of hours to plan complex operations like these,” Mr Joyce said at t press conference today.
“The crew were all volunteers and they did us proud.”
Yesterday, Australians who were cleared to finally disembark the Diamond Princess were driven by bus to Haneda Airport for the chartered flight home.
They first needed to pass a health check to receive an approval of disembarkation notice by Japanese quarantine officials.
They were then screened several more times before they could board the Qantas 747.
On the plane, they had no contact with Qantas crew, who remained upstairs for the flight. Food for passengers was already waiting for them at their seats when they boarded.
— quarantinedondiamondprincess (@quarantinedond1) February 18, 2020
If they passed the latest health check, they would have been given “approval of disembarkation” notices by Japanese quarantine officials, which grant them permission to enter Japan.
From Yokohama Port, where the ship was docked, they boarded buses to Haneda Airport.
Brisbane student Tehya Pfeffer, 18, who has been quarantined on the Diamond Princess with her grandmother Cathy, was among them.
“At 10.30am (local time, 12.30pm AEDT) we will start to be screened and given luggage tags and wrist bands,” Ms Pfeffer told news.com.au yesterday.
“At 5pm we have to have our luggage put outside, and at 6pm we will disembark the ship and go through a makeshift customs. This is where we use our wrist bands.
“And then we will take a bus to the airport and at around 12am Thursday we will fly to Darwin.”
On the evacuation flight, cabin crew would not be making direct contact with evacuees.
Meals were already waiting for passengers at their seats when they boarded, and Qantas staff remained upstairs.
All those returning to Australia on the Qantas flight will spend two weeks in quarantine at the Howard Springs facility, in addition to the two weeks in lockdown they’ve had on the ship.
Qantas crew on the evacuation flight will also be quarantined for two weeks before returning to work.
There will be some New Zealanders on the Qantas flight, who will be transferred home after the plane lands in Darwin.
READ MORE: Inside the Qantas rescue flight from Wuhan
After the flight, the aircraft will likely undergo thorough cleaning, as was the case with the Federal Government’s previous repatriation flights from virus-epicentre Wuhan.
In those cases, the medical-grade filters in the airconditioning units – the same ones used in hospital operating theatres – were removed.
All removable items like blankets, pillows, headsets and magazines were thrown out and all surfaces in the cabin, including walls, floors, seats and tray tables, were sprayed twice with hospital-grade disinfectant.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus on the Diamond Princess soared again overnight and now stands at more than 620, up from 542 yesterday.
There were originally about 3700 passengers and crew on the ship, which docked at Yokohama earlier this month after a two-week voyage around Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile 15 Australian passengers have decided against the repatriation flight, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
“The predominate reason for that is that they are staying, in many cases, with family members who have actually contracted the virus and are receiving medical attention in Japan,” Mr Morrison said.
However, they have been told they would not be allowed to return to Australia for two weeks.
“Some of you may expect that, after the planned release from quarantine by Japanese authorities after 19 February, you could make your own way home to Australia on commercial flights,” an email to passengers from the Australian embassy in Tokyo read, according to The Australian.
“The AHPPC (Australian Health Protection Principal Committee) advice is that this is not possible without a period of formal quarantine. Accordingly, the Australian Government will ensure that any passengers from the Diamond Princess who are not on the Qantas charter flight will be identified and not allowed on other flights to Australia until Wednesday, March 4, 2020.
“Even if you board another aircraft, you may be prevented from entering transit countries as they impose their own travel and quarantine arrangements.”
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