Travellers from China to be denied entry into Australia

The government blocks entry to foreign travellers from mainland China as Queensland Premier pleads for harassment to stop.

The federal government will deny entry to Australia to foreign travellers who have left or passed through mainland China amid the rush to contain the global spread of the deadly coronavirus, of which 12 cases have been confirmed in Australia.

It comes as Queensland’s Premier pleads for discrimination against the Chinese community in her state to stop.

Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family, legal guardians and spouses will be excepted from the strict measures, announced by Scott Morrison on Saturday.

The government has also raised its advice level, warning travellers simply: “Do not go to China”.

“In addition to that, there’ll be advanced screening and reception arrangements put into place at the major airports to facilitate identifying and providing this information and ensuring the appropriate precautions are being put in place,” Prime Minister Morrison told a press conference in Sydney.

INQUIRER: China’s ticking time bomb

On Saturday evening, South Australian authorities confirmed two cases of coronavirus in that state, a couple aged in their 60s, who have since been admitted to a public hospital.

The two new coronavirus cases, along with a fourth case in Victoria, bring the total number in Australia to 12.

The couple from Wuhan were visiting a relative in South Australia.

SA Health chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier on Saturday confirmed that the two new cases, a man and a woman, have been admitted to hospital with coronavirus.

“They have followed all of the procedures and information that they have been asked to through communicable disease control branch,” she said. They developed symptoms and were tested at a public hospital before going into self-isolation.

Their relative has been tested, with results pending.

“We do not think there have been any contacts with anybody else in the state and they have been in self-isolation for the required time,” she said. The couple is understood to have left Wuhan on January 20.

Twenty-five people have been tested in South Australia with 15 of those tests coming back negative earlier on Saturday.

The Australian travel ban comes after Qantas announced it would suspend its direct routes from China, and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called for all incoming flights from the country to be halted altogether until the virus was contained.

“I don’t often agree with Donald Trump, but I do agree with the US authorities on this occasion that I think we should take every measure possible to combat this virus,” the Premier said in reference to measures taken by the United States to contain the outbreak.

Chinese state media reports 259 people have died and 11,791 cases have been confirmed there. Twelve cases have been confirmed in Australia, with a Melbourne woman in her 20s, reportedly returned recently from Wuhan, taking Victoria’s to four.

Mr Morrison also announced new arrangements for Australian airports including the provision of protective masks and thermometers.

“There’s a half a million masks that will be provided to those airports to support those who are coming off these flights as well as those who are with those coming from those flights,” he said.

“There’ll also be thermometers which are provided to those airports and we’re working with those airport authorities now to ensure we can put those arrangements in place.” Travellers already in the air or arriving in Australia on Sunday will face enhanced screening.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases grows both inside and outside of Hubei province, where the outbreak originated.

Australia has joined several other countries who have said they would deny entry to all foreign visitors who had recently been in China, where the virus first emerged in December, the BBC reported.

Those countries include the US, Russia, Japan, Pakistan and Italy.

Global health officials have advised against such measures, the BBC said: "Travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains and harming economies," the head of the World Health Organisation said on Friday.

WHO recommends introducing screening at official border crossings and has warned that closing borders could accelerate the spread of the virus, with travellers entering countries unofficially, the BBC reported.

Qantas will suspend flights to mainland China from February 9 and possibly sooner, after Singapore and the US introduced travel restrictions that will make it impossible for international crew to operate the services.

The Flying Kangaroo flies two routes between China and Australian, Shanghai-Sydney and Beijing-Sydney, totally 12 services a week.

Crews who work on the flights may also be rostered on services to the US and Singapore, which have now closed their borders to people who have visited China in recent weeks in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Qantas was intending to halt the Beijing-Sydney route from March and will now bring that forward to February 9. Shanghai-Sydney is expected to resume from March 29, providing the travel restrictions on recent visitors to China are lifted by then.

In a statement, Qantas said it selected the date of February 9 to suspended the flights, to balance “high passenger numbers in both directions, including Australian residents wanting to return home from China” with the travel restriction being applied.

“The suspension may be brought forward if demand levels or other factors change,” said the statement.

The Transport Workers Union has welcomed Qantas’s move but repeated its call for Australia to ban all flights from China.

In January 2019, direct flights from mainland China carried almost 200,000 people to Australia.

As of Saturday, all travellers arriving out of mainland China, not just Hubei province, are being asked to self-isolate for a period of 14 days from the time they depart the country.

Suspending flights arriving from China was not part of the advice provided by health chiefs, Mr Morrison added.

Meanwhile, government officials are expecting the Chinese government to approve a plan to evacuate Australians in Wuhan using a Qantas plane “very soon”, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.

“I would like to register my thanks to the Chinese authorities for their co-operation on this operation in exceedingly difficult circumstances,” she added.

Some individuals confirmed to have been infected with novel coronavirus have since been discharged from medical facilities, Mr Morrison said. He had stood behind a decision to send Australian citizens to a detention facility on Christmas Island as an appropriate quarantine measure. The prime minister said he had been in regular contact with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and is seeking to ensure border arrangements between the neighbouring countries are aligned.

Premier pleads for discrimination to stop

Meanwhile Queenslanders are being urged to unite behind the state’s Chinese community amid discrimination stemming from fears over coronavirus.

It comes as state government officials are sending text messages to the parents of 3760 people under the age of 18 who returned from China, including Hong Kong, in the past 14 days.

Dr Jeannette Young, the state’s Chief Health Officer, says those children should not attend school, childcare or TAFE until 14 days after the date of their departure from China and Hong Kong as a precaution.

The advice also applies to teachers, staff and anyone else who attends these facilities.

Michael Ma, secretary-general of Queensland Chinese United Council, says school children have been harassed and discriminated against.

“It is a virus we call the coronavirus, not China virus,” he told reporters in Brisbane on Saturday.

“What we are going to do is isolate the virus, not Chinese.” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has told the community not to be afraid as health officials work to contain the spread of the virus.

“It is very important that people do not discriminate against our Chinese community,” she said.

“They are so involved, they contribute so much to our community, and all of the communities are absolutely doing the right thing, especially families returning from China.

“So, please, everybody do the right thing and show respect and treat everybody equally and go about your normal business.” Meanwhile, a 44-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman from Hubei Province who were confirmed to have the virus are recovering in a stable condition in Gold Coast University Hospital.

The Chinese Women’s Football Team, which is in quarantine in The Westin Brisbane hotel, have not shown symptoms of the virus.

With AAP