Coronavirus: Tigerair passengers warned; second Queensland case

A second person in Queensland has been found to be infected with coronavirus, taking the national number of cases to nine.

Passengers on a Tigerair flight to the Gold Coast flew with an infected traveller.

A second person in Queensland has been found to be infected with coronavirus, taking the national number of cases to nine.

The 42-year-old woman from Wuhan tested positive for the virus on the Gold Coast on Thursday evening.

She had been part of a nine-person group travelling with a 44-year-old man who was confirmed to be carrying the virus on Wednesday.

The group flew from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on January 27.

In a statement, Queensland Health said officers were working to identify places the woman visited.

“Contact tracing is underway, which will allow us to provide information to guests of the hotel this group was staying in, and to other passengers on Tigerair flight #TT566 from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on 27 January 2020,” the statement said.

“Any passengers who were on this flight should call 13HEALTH for advice.

“The seven other people from the same tour group remain in isolation in Gold Coast University Hospital.”

Third case in Victoria

A third case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Victoria.

A Chinese woman in her 40s, a visitor from Hubei province, is in a stable condition with the respiratory illness, Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services confirmed.

She was confirmed positive on Thursday following a series of tests.

Meanwhile, health authorities in Queensland are testing 41 people for the deadly coronavirus, including eight people travelling in the same group as a Chinese man confirmed to be infected with the disease on the Gold Coast.

Chief health officer Jeanette Young said the results of the tests would be known on Thursday evening.

All 41 people, who have been spread throughout Queensland, have been to China in the past 14 days and reported respiratory issues, Dr Young said.

More than 170 passengers on a flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast will be contacted by the department and warned they were travelling with a man infected with coronavirus.

Some passengers who were seated near the man could be forced into isolation.

The 44-year-old Chinese man – the first person in Queensland identified with the disease – flew from Wuhan to Melbourne, via Singapore, on January 22.

On January 27, he flew to the Gold Coast about 8pm on Tigerair flight TT566 as part of a group of nine travellers.

The man felt ill when he arrived in Queensland and spent the night in his hotel room where he became “increasingly unwell” before going to hospital in an ambulance about 3.30pm on January 28.

He remains in a stable condition.

The man and his eight companions are in isolation in the Gold Coast University Hospital.

Four of them, including children, are showing signs of illness and have been tested for the virus.

Dr Young said the department would contact all 172 passengers on the flight to alert them.

Passengers seated within two rows in front of and behind the group will be asked to go into isolation by the health department.

Dr Young has statutory powers to force a person to be quarantined.

“I can ask them to remain in a place of my choosing,” she said.

Health investigators are working to determine the movements of the group in Victoria and on the Gold Coast.

Dr Young said the airborne disease was particularly likely to be spread if someone was in a confined space with an infected person for more than two hours.

The flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast takes two hours and 5 minutes.

A Tigerair Australia spokesman said the airline was aware of the issue and working with the health department to contact passengers on the flight.

“Tigerair Australia has been made aware by the Queensland Health department that a passenger travelling on a flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast has tested positive for coronavirus,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“The flight number was TT566 on 27 January 2020.

“We are now in the process of contacting the passengers and our crew on this flight to notify them so they can visit their GP for testing.

“The safety of our passengers and our crew is always our number one priority and we are working closely with the Queensland Health department on this matter.”

The man was travelling on a booking with one other person and they were seated in 11A and 11B.

Dr Young said the man was one of seven people confirmed to be afflicted with the virus in Australia.

“Today in Queensland we have one case that’s confirmed as having the novel coronavirus,” she said.

“Across the county, we have been working together very closely to put a response moving forward.”

The Chinese women’s soccer team remains in isolation in a Brisbane hotel after arriving on a flight from Singapore on Wednesday.

They had earlier visited the city of Wuhan, where the virus originated.

Dr Young said the players and staff were “all fine” and being kept in isolation as a precaution.

They are being monitored by the team doctor and public health staff.

The death toll from the virus has now reached 170 while there are nearly 8000 confirmed cases.

Tigerair passenger: What we know

A Chinese national who is Queensland’s first confirmed case of coronavirus was part of a tour group which spent about six days in Melbourne. The man, 44, fell ill on Tiger Air flight TT566 from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on Monday night.

He was travelling with eight other tourists, four of whom have fallen ill and are being tested for the virus.

* The tour group came from Wuhan and stopped in Singapore before flying to Australia.

*They left Singapore on either January 21 or 22, and landed in Melbourne on January 22.

*The group spent the next five days in the Victorian capital touring the city. *Authorities are now trying to track their movements and alert people who may have been in contact.

*The tour group boarded Tiger Air flight TT566 on January 27 at 7.44pm AEDT and landed at the Gold Coast Airport at 8.45pm AEST.

*The passenger was travelling on a booking with one other person and they were seated in 11A and 11B.

*The 44-year-old developed symptoms on the flight, which was carrying about 150-200 passengers.

*The man travelled to his Gold Coast hotel, before calling an ambulance. He spent less than 24 hours in the hotel.

* The man and four others from the tour group to develop symptoms have been isolated in the Gold Coast University Hospital.

With AAP