Diamond Princess cruise ship coronavirus evacuees bound for Howard Springs quarantine

UPDATED: Hundreds of Australians on board the coronavirus-struck Diamond Princess cruise ship will be flown to Darwin to be quarantined in the Howard Springs former Inpex workers’ village

The Federal Government plans to evacuate Australian passengers aboard the coronavirus-struck Diamond Princess in Japan to Darwin. Picture: Kyodo/via Reuters

HUNDREDS of Australians on board the coronavirus-struck Diamond Princess cruise ship will be flown out of Japan to Darwin on Wednesday where they will be quarantined in the former Inpex workers’ village in Howard Springs.

There are 209 Australians aboard the ship — the majority of whom are elderly — who have been quarantined off a port in Japan for more than two weeks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australians would be flown to Darwin on a Qantas flight on Wednesday where they would be placed in quarantine in Howard Springs.

“They will require a further 14 day quarantine in the Howard Springs facility,” he said.

A team of about 15 AUSMAT doctors is expected to arrive in Japan on Tuesday to prepare evacuees for the transfer.

The Australians on board the cruise ship must pass a coronavirus test before they can be brought home and elderly people will be given priority in the evacuation.

Buses deliver the first Australian evacuees from Wuhan to the former Inpex workers’ camp in Howard Springs earlier this month. Picture: Che Chorley

NT Health authorities confirmed the 24 Australian passengers who had tested positive to the virus would not be among the evacuees taken to the Howard Springs quarantine camp.

They said those who had contracted the virus had been removed from the ship and were being looked after within the Japanese health system.

There are already 266 people – including 258 Australians – at the Howard Springs village after they were evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan last Sunday.

There are no confirmed cases of coronavirus among those 266 evacuees despite continual testing.

Acting NT Chief Health Officer Dianne Stephen said the new evacuees would be kept in a “completely separate” accommodation block away from the evacuees from Wuhan, to ensure they do not mix at all.

“These people need to be quarantined for another 14 days because we aren’t entirely convinced that the quarantine procedures on that ship were 100 per cent effective,” she said.

She said if an evacuee were to fall ill in quarantine, the Royal Darwin Hospital could be used under “appropriate circumstances.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out using Christmas Island to quarantine people being evacuated from Japan because it would take up to a week ready the facility again.

A plane chartered by the US government takes off from Tokyo with American passengers who were aboard the quarantined cruise ship the Diamond Princess. Picture: Sadayuki Goto/Kyodo News

Mr Morrison said he understood passengers would be frustrated to learn they would face a new period of quarantine, but said the health of Australians on Australian soil was the first priority.

“I understand that those who were on board will feel very frustrated about this, as well as their family members,” Mr Morrison said.

“I am very frustrated about it. But, our first responsibility is that we have to protect the health and safety of Australians in Australia today.”

The evacuation decision was made by the national security committee of cabinet on the advice of an Australian infectious disease expert, who is in Japan assessing the situation on board the ship.

There have been 15 cases in Australia, with eight people now recovered and the rest in a stable condition.

Passengers wearing face masks aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Picture: Behrouz Mehri/AFP)

Prior to Mr Morrison’s announcement an exhausted Melbourne woman stuck on the ship questioned whether people would take up the evacuation offer in the hope they can leave the ship as early as Friday, when their existing quarantine period expires.

Vera Koslova-Fu said she didn’t want to go to another facility for 14 days if she had tested negative.

“You need to tell me why I need to have a further 14 days of quarantine if I am tested negative,” she said.

A group of 328 Americans who had also been quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess have already been evacuated for home in the US, leaving early on Monday on chartered flights.

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Once home they will also be isolated in quarantine for a further 14-day period.

Several other governments, including Canada, Hong Kong and Italy, have also announced plans to remove their citizens from the ship.