Coronavirus escape hatched for Diamond Princess cruise passengers

Scott Morrison has ruled out using Christmas Island to quarantine elderly Australians after they are rescued from the Diamond Princess.

A passenger aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Picture: AP

Scott Morrison has ruled out using Christmas Island to quarantine elderly Australians after they are evacuated from the coronavirus-struck Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The national security committee of cabinet is meeting later today to finalise the plan to rescue nearly 200 Australians stuck on the ship stranded off the coast of Japan.

Darwin is now the more likely quarantine site when Australian passengers arrive home.

The Prime Minister said there was no future evacuation missions planned for people in areas with coronavirus, and that Christmas Island would not suit the needs of the cruise ship evacuees.

“There’s quite specific needs we wouldn’t be able to accommodate at Christmas Island for the more elderly group of people,” he said in Melbourne on Monday. “That’s not an option we’re considering for this operation. And we don’t have any other operations envisaged at this time.”

The more than 200 Australians currently on Christmas Island and ready to leave quarantine – after being evacuated from Wuhan two weeks ago, are considerably younger.

The number of Australian passengers on the Diamond Princess suffering coronavirus has shot up from 16 to 24 after further tests were carried out by Japanese authorities on Sunday.

The NSC is awaiting an evaluation from the ship directly by an Australian expert before signing off on the evacuations. The national security committee of cabinet will have another meeting this afternoon to work out an evacuation plan.

Government sources told The Australian there was an “intention” to carry out the mission, but no decision has been made. More elderly and vulnerable passengers will be prioritised if the mission goes ahead and further check-ups will be done.

Americans are being evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Monday. A US charter flight has started the airlift of nearly 400 coronavirus-negative US passengers home from the ship — stranded off the coast of Yokohama for two weeks — to quarantine in California and Texas. Nearly 44 Americans with coronavirus will remain in Japan.

The national security committee of cabinet met on Sunday night to discuss the issue, with Scott Morrison considering implementing the evacuation plan later this week.

A bus which believed to carry elderly passengers of the cruise ship Diamond Princess. Picture: Reuters

The Prime Minister and cabinet are waiting for a medical officer in Japan to make a full assessment on the situation on board the cruise ship before they proceed with an evacuation.

It is understood Australians will be have to pass a coronavirus check before being taken off the ship and vulnerable elderly will be the first to be brought home. So far 355 people on board have tested positive, after 70 new cases were found on Saturday,

Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Seven Network on Monday morning the NSC will make a decision once Australian health officer Paul Armstrong boards the Diamond Princess later today.

“We are planning a potential operation to bring them home,” he said. “He will report back to the National Security committee today and if his advice is that there has been in any way a secondary round of infections, and obviously the presumption is that’s the case, then we will look to work with Qantas to bring these people home.”

Mr Hunt said a final decision on which quarantine site the passengers go to will be made later today as well. “Many of these patients or passengers on the ship are very elderly and may need to be near major hospital facilities,” he said.

“We are working through that with different options and we will have advice later today.”

The NSW government said on Sunday morning that passengers ­arriving on cruise ships would be tested for coronavirus as part of “precautionary measures” being taken by state and federal governments.

The number of new cases from China’s coronavirus epidemic fell for a third consecutive day on Sunday, as the World Health ­Organisation chief said it was “impossible” to predict how the outbreak would develop.

Global concern remains high about the spread of the virus, which first emerged in China’s central Hubei province in ­December, with the first death outside Asia reported in France at the weekend. The death toll jumped to 1665 in mainland China on Sunday after 142 more people died from the virus. More than 68,000 ­people have now been infected — but the number of new cases of the COVID-19 strain is declining.

In Hubei, the number of new cases slowed for a third consecutive day and, at 139, the number of deaths was level with Saturday’s toll. The number of new cases in other parts of China has fallen for 12 straight days.

The Australian embassy in Tokyo emailed citizens aboard the cruise ship there to say the federal government was examining options to help them and said “all options’’ were being considered.

American passengers on the Diamond Princess will be flown back to the US for ­another two weeks in quarantine, even though the fortnight period in Japan was nearing its end.

The Japanese government said Americans who had tested positive would not be on the flight. There are more than 380 Americans on board the Diamond Princess.

The US aircraft will fly to Travis Air Force Base in California, with some passengers continuing to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the embassy said in a letter to passengers and crew that was posted online on Saturday.

After arriving in the US, the American embassy in Tokyo told passengers they would be put into quarantine.

“We are deeply grateful to the cruise line and government of Japan for working diligently to contain and control the spread of the illness,” the email said.

“However, to fulfil our government’s responsibilities to US citizens under our rules and practices, as well as to reduce the burden on the Japanese healthcare system, the US government recommends, out of an abundance of caution, that US citizens disembark and return to the United States for further monitoring.”

In Australia, NSW ports confirmed passengers aboard the MS Maasdam, a mid-sized cruise liner operated by Holland America, were being tested for coronavirus. The ship was docked at the far-south coast town of Eden on Saturday and in Hobart last Thursday.

A spokesman for NSW Health said no outbreak of coronavirus had been identified by ship’s doctors but “as a safeguard, any unwell passengers will be ­assessed by health teams here”.

“People with fever and respiratory symptoms may be tested for respiratory infections, including novel coronavirus,” the NSW Health spokesman said.

“The testing process is similar to that being done for passengers arriving at Sydney Airport,” the NSW Health spokesman said.

“For each cruise ship arrival into Sydney, a risk assessment will be conducted prior to the ship’s berthing by the NSW Chief Human Biosecurity Officer, in conjunction with NSW Health Chief Health Officer and public health physicians.”