Coronavirus: NT quarantine camp announced as Japanese cruise cases blow out to 61

Second quarantine facility to open as seven stranded Australian passengers contract the virus on Japanese cruise.

The Morrison government will activate a contingency plan to establish a second coronavirus quarantine facility at a disused Northern Territory workers’ camp.

Scott Morrison said those on a second Qantas evacuation flight from China’s Hubei province would be quarantined at the 3500-bed facility outside Darwin.

He said the national security committee of cabinet had made the decision on the advice of chief medical officer Brendan Murphy, who warned the configuration of accommodation at Christmas Island made it an inappropriate facility to house more evacuees.

“The configuration of the Phosphate Hill and Construction Camp sites does not suit the purposes of quarantine, because of the inability to properly segregate and manage the population in that facility,” Mr Morrison said.

“And so with that advice we will be moving to the contingency plans for overflow that we have been working on at the same time to ensure that we are prepared for things such as this when they present.”

He said he had spoken to NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner on Friday morning about using the Manigurr-ma accommod­ation village, 30km outside Darwin­, which was built by Japanese energy giant Inpex in 2012 to house workers on the $55bn Ichthys LNG project.

The government anticipates the second Qantas rescue flight will arrive in China by the weekend, ready to take evacuees to Darwin, where they will head to the Manigurr-ma facility for the 14-day quarantine period.

It comes amid news that at least seven Australians aboard a stranded Japanese cruise have contracted the virus, which has now spread to 61 passengers.

Mr Morrison reiterated that Australians elsewhere in China were not affected by the ban on travellers from China to Australia and should consider returning home.

“If you are there, then there are still commercial flights coming out of mainland China to Australia. And I strongly suggest you avail yourselves of those, because the government cannot guarantee that similar sorts of assisted departure arrangements will be able to be put in place in the future - either into mainland China or into Wuhan.”

Earlier, Education Minister Dan Tehan has hosed down proposals for universities to set up their own coronavirus quarantine facilities for Chinese students, saying the government will rely on medical advice before altering its China travel ban.

The nation’s universities are scrambling to come up with their own quarantine plans to allow 100,000 Chinese students to come to Australia to commence their courses, to avoid a multi-billion dollar financial hit.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg encouraged the idea,saying there might be opportunities “for some of the universities to provide quarantine” for Chinese students trapped offshore.

Mr Tehan told The Australian that all such proposals would be contingent on medical advice.

“The deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, and the government continues to work with universities on strategies to mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus.

“The government has been open to hearing any new proposals, including contingencies regarding quarantine, but will ultimately be guided by the medical experts and health authorities.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt earlier warned Australia’s initial 14 day travel ban on Chinese travellers would be extended for as long as necessary.

Seven Australians catch virus on cruise

Meanwhile, another 41 people on a cruise liner off Japan have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed from the ship to 61.

Carnival Australia confirmed that five Australians tested positive for coronavirus onboard the Diamond Princess cruise.

In total there are now seven Australians confirmed to have fallen sick with the disease on luxury cruise liner.

The remaining passengers who were diagnosed include 21 guests from Japan, eight from the US, five from Canada, one from the United Kingdom and one from Argentina.

Carnival Australia said they expected local public health authorities to remove the sick guests and transport them to local hospitals “immediately”.

The Japanese Ministry of Health said this is the last group of people to be tested and the quarantine will end on 19 February unless “there are any unforeseen developments”.

The drastic jump in infected passengers on the cruise vessel comes as the cruise ship was under the two-week quarantine with about 3700 people inside, including 221 Australians.

A passenger on board from Melbourne, Clare Hedger, said she is on Deck 14 of the cruise ship and had just been allowed outside for one hour of fresh air.

“We are doing OK and making the most of these unusual circumstances,” Ms Hedger, 35, said.

Passengers on board the ship have been asking for supplies to be sent to their room. Picture: Instagram

Shortly before she had been allowed outside, she told The Australian she could not wait to leave her cabin.

“I am in an inside cabin and cannot wait to see the light of day and have some fresh air. But apart from that, we are being well looked after.”

In an announcement recorded by a passenger, guests were asked to “wear their masks at all times” when they leave their cabins.

“Upon reaching the designated open deck area, a reminder that the quarantine officials require that you avoid congregating in large groups and maintain separation of at least one metre away from each other when talking.”

The announcement said that the outside temperature is 3C and there is a light breeze and that if guests want to continue to go outside, they must follow those instructions.

A total of 61 passengers on board a cruise liner docked off Japan have tested positive for coronavirus. Picture: AFP

The death toll in mainland China has reached 636 as of the end of Thursday, up by 73 from the previous day, the country’s National Health Commission said.

Out of the total rise in the toll, central Hubei province – epicentre of the outbreak – reported 69 deaths, including 64 in the provincial capital Wuhan. Across mainland China, there were 3143 new confirmed infections on Thursday, bringing the total so far to 31,161.

The number of deaths in Hubei province has risen to 618.

There had been a further 2447 cases detected in Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, taking the total in the province to 22,112.

Most of the new deaths were in Hubei’s provincial capital of Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated.

Wuhan reported 64 new deaths on Thursday, up from 52 on Wednesday. A total of 478 people in Wuhan have now died from the virus.

New confirmed cases in Wuhan increased by 1501 on Thursday.

A second cruise ship was also under lockdown after docking in Hong Kong with 3600 passengers and crew aboard. Authorities said three people had tested positive for coronavirus. It was not clear how long those aboard the World Dream, operated by Dream ­Cruises, would be confined to the ship, which ­arrived in the Chinese territory after being denied permission to dock in Taiwan’s southern port of Kaohsiung.

With Reuters