‘One way ticket’: Expat family flees China amid coronavirus fears
Masked passengers on a flight from Shanghai have arrived today in Brisbane on “one-way tickets” harbouring fears they would not be able to return home any time soon as the coronavirus outbreak grips their country.
QLD News
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MASKED passengers on a flight from Shanghai today arrived in Brisbane on “one way tickets”, with fears they would not be able to return home soon as the coronavirus outbreak grips their adopted country.
An expat family, who asked not to be identified, said they had booked a one-way ticket back to Australia because schools and shops remain closed, highways are deserted and the nation is panicking.
Children now have to learn online from abroad in Australia and multiple other countries around the world as families flee China.
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“The pollution is over 300, there are no schools or shops open and everyone’s panicking and going bananas getting food,” the mother said.
“Shops are shut, you can’t get any food … they go into panic mode in China.
“We just thought it was easier to be over here than there.”
The family will start e-learning on Monday in an effort to keep children educated while the virus keeps schools shut for a minimum of two weeks.
“We (families) are all over the world so it’s all a bit new to us,” the mother said.
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The father said six-lane motorways in China are deserted with “not a car on the road”.
“The reason we’ve left is not because of health worries but because we don’t know when the schools are going to open again and we don’t know when the shops will be open again – it could be two weeks, it could be a month … we’re on a one-way ticket,” he said.
“We’ve been told schools are shut down officially for two weeks.
“I work in Singapore and my boss has told me I’m not to go to work for two weeks – I’ve got to quarantine myself.”
Other passengers, including University of Queensland Chinese students said they were ‘worried’ about the virus and would continue to wear masks as a precaution.
Brisbane airport workers yesterday told The Courier Mail they have “never seen this many masks, not even with the SARS virus”, with many employees at the international terminal also wearing masks.
An announcement at the airport urges arriving passengers who may have symptoms to “speak to an airport biosecurity officer now” and advise people who have been in China recently who get sick in coming days to see a doctor immediately.
Originally published as ‘One way ticket’: Expat family flees China amid coronavirus fears
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