Coronavirus: Christmas Island quarantine lifted

Australians quarantined on Christmas Island prepared for freedom on Sunday as the temporary quarantine station scaled down.

This child will be one of 242 people to leave quarantine on Christmas Island on Monday. Picture: Colin Murty

Australians quarantined on Christmas Island were on Sunday preparing for freedom as the ­island’s temporary quarantine station scaled down.

Not everybody locked inside the Christmas Island detention centre can go home on Monday.

The 242 Australians who arrived from Wuhan on February 3 are scheduled to be delivered to the Christmas Island airport after a short bus tour of local sights — but 36 Australian citizens and permanent residents will stay behind.

The smaller group landed on the Indian Ocean territory 48 hours after the first arrivals, via a rescue flight arranged by the New Zealand government that went first to Auckland.

They can leave on Wednesday if they remain virus-free.

The 24 doctors, nurses and clin­icians sent to oversee the quarantining of Australians on Christmas Island were on Sunday packing up gear and a tent hospital in the grounds of the Howard-era immigration detention centre.

The medical group — including a pharmacist and paediatrician — are from the Australian Medical Assistance Team led by Dan Holmes, who described an optimistic mood among evacuees on Sunday. “Everything is going smoothly,” he said. He indicated the Christmas Island detention centre could be prepared for more quarantine work at short notice pending any decision to send more people. “AUSMAT are ready whatever we are asked to do,” he said. “Our tents can be built up in two hours when required.”

The role of Christmas Island as a quarantine station was arranged swiftly and there was uncertainty about whether the island had ­capacity to receive more evacuees.

Another 266 Australians took a Qantas rescue flight out of Wuhan on February 9 and went to a former resource sector workers camp at Howard Springs, near Darwin.