Coronavirus Australia live updates: Flight carrying cruise ship passengers to land in Melbourne

A flight carrying Australians who were stuck for weeks on a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship has left South America and is now en route to Melbourne.

A repatriation flight carrying Australians who were stuck for weeks on a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship has left South America and is now en route to Melbourne, and will land Sunday morning.

Its passengers were previously aboard the Greg Mortimer, which spent a fortnight stuck off the coast of South America after being rocked by a large outbreak.

"We are expecting a flight from Uruguay, which will contain a number of people – over a hundred – from the cruise ship Greg Mortimer that had been cruising around the Antarctic," Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen said.

"We have reports that up to 70 per cent of these patients have tested positive for COVID-19. The government has been working very, very closely with the cruise ship operators to organise this flight to come back to Australia."

A field team of medical officers will assess all of the plane's passengers, with paramedics on standby in case they are needed. Anyone with symptoms of the virus will be taken to hospital for testing. The rest will go to hotels for the mandatory 14 days in quarantine.

MORE: Follow the latest coronavirus news here

Australia’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 56 and the total number of infections has gone past 6200.

There are now 6303 total cases, with 2857 in New South Wales, 1265 in Victoria, 974 in Queensland, 429 in South Australia, 514 in Western Australia, 133 in Tasmania, 103 in the Australian Capital Territory and 28 in the Northern Territory.

Follow our live rolling coverage below.