Christmas Island virus evacuation plan

AUSTRALIANS trapped in the epicentre of China’s deadly coronavirus will be evacuated and quarantined on Christmas Island.

The rescue operation will be performed in partnership with the New Zealand government on a “last in, first out” basis.

Priority will be given to the “isolated and vulnerable,” including infants and the elderly.

There are more than 600 Australian citizens in the Chinese province of Hubei, including its capital city of Wuhan.

Qantas has offered to help them leave.

However, Australia and NZ need China’s permission before sending in a chartered plane. China has not yet approved the plan.

“This will be done subject obviously to working closely and with the authority and approval of the Chinese government,” Prime Minister Scott

Morrison said yesterday. “I stress there is rather a limited window here and we are moving very, very swiftly to ensure we can put this plan together and put the operation together.”

Evacuated Australians will be quarantined on Christmas Island for up to 14 days.

Specialist medical teams and Australian Defence Force troops will be deployed to the island. NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her government was still working on the protocols for its citizens.

Other nations have been much faster to evacuate their citizens. Japan rescued its citizens on Tuesday, while South Korea will charter a plane into Wuhan today.

But Mr Morrison denied his government was too slow to respond to the crisis.

GEELONG’S Australian Animal Health Laboratory will work with a culture of the coronavirus after Melbourne scientists successfully recreated it in a lab.

Researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne are the first scientists outside China to grow the virus.

The discovery could speed up the development of a vaccine for the virus and improve testing.

The lab-grown virus — which was developed from the first patient diagnosed in Australia — will help with an accurate diagnosis of the disease across the world.

The researchers grew the virus in culture in just over 48 hours.

It will be shared with the World Health Organisation in Europe, CSIRO’s Geelong Australian Animal Health Laboratory and other labs across Australia.

The development came as a second case of the virus was confirmed in Victoria and new government advice warned people to stay away from work and school for two weeks if they had recently travelled to China’s Hubei province.

In the latest confirmed case in Victoria, diners at a Glen Waverley restaurant may have been exposed to the virus.

The patient, a man in his 60s who had travelled to Wuhan City in China, is now isolated and recovering at home.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the man became sick more than two days after returning from China.

But before falling ill, he dined at The House of Delight in Montclair Ave between 5.30pm and 7pm on Sunday, January 26.

Anyone who was at the restaurant at the time has been urged to be aware of symptoms and to contact the department on 1300 651 160 for advice.

In Geelong, some private schools, including Geelong Grammar and Geelong College, had already instructed students who have recently visited Wuhan to delay their return to school for a fortnight after their return to Australia.

Barwon Health’s director of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Professor Eugene Athan, said the hospital had a small number of presentations, both tourists and locals, who were concerned they may have symptoms of coronavirus but no one had yet tested positive.