FLIGHT FRIGHT

PASSENGERS’ VIRUS SCARE

A FLIGHT arriving in Hobart from Melbourne Airport was stuck on the tarmac for three hours yesterday while emergency services responded to an unwell passenger.

Jetstar flight JQ713 touched down in Hobart about 2.25pm but passengers were told to stay in their seats and to remain calm.

A man, who had recently travelled to China, will be assessed in an attempt to rule out coronavirus after becoming ill on the flight, the state’s public health department has confirmed.

Two Tasmanians have already been tested for the potentially deadly coronavirus, an outbreak which started in Wuhan in central China.

ANGRY passengers trapped on a Jetstar flight with a sick passenger, now being tested for coronavirus, have expressed their disgust at the way the health scare was handled by authorities.

Melbourne-based GP Sam Begin, who was stranded on the tarmac for three hours after the JQ713 flight from Melbourne landed in Hobart yesterday, said if he had handled it clinically the same way, he would be deregistered.

“To keep all those people on a plane, on a 40C day, in Hobart, and breathing recirculated air is just not best practice,” Dr Begin said.

“If my fellow passengers and I weren’t at risk of contracting coronavirus before arriving in Tasmania we certainly are now. This sort of mandatory quarantine is completely contrary to current national guidelines for coronavirus and questionably legal.

“All the current recommendations are about separating those who may be infected and those who are not.”

The GP is calling on the state’s health service to urgently review their response to the scare.

A letter circulated to passengers, signed by Director of Public Health Mark Veitch, said it may take up to two days before travellers were told whether coronavirus could be ruled out.

It stated that passengers were free to travel in Tasmania and did not need to restrict their activities.

One Sandy Bay resident was frustrated at the lack of information at the time, and the uncertainty of not knowing whether she had come in contact with the virus.

“We weren’t told until the very end of the fiasco that the man was still on the plane,” she said.

“The worst thing for me was not being informed. There were ambulances on the ground and they could have quarantined him, but they didn’t.

“The letter says that we’re free to travel, but I’ve got an elderly mother and now I’m worried about seeing her. And I’ve just cancelled a lunch with a group of friends tomorrow.”

The man had recently travelled to China, but at this stage it is understood he was not in Wuhan or the wider Hubei Province where the disease outbreak is centred.

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Dr Veitch said the affected passenger would be thoroughly medically assessed to rule out coronavirus.

He said it was not believed the man has been in direct contact with a confirmed case of the disease and coronavirus is not strongly suspected as the cause of the man’s illness, but he would be assessed at the Royal Hobart Hospital as a precaution.

It comes as a third person in Tasmania has come forward for testing for the disease.

A woman was yesterday tested in Hobart to rule out coronavirus infection. She had self-isolated for a period of time after feeling unwell following a recent trip to China.

Two Tasmanians have already been tested for the potentially deadly coronavirus, an outbreak which started in Wuhan. Test results are expected within two days.

A woman in her 20s was tested at the Launceston General Hospital but tested negative for the virus on Thursday.

A Hobart man in his 30s was hospitalised last weekend and also tested negative after having travelled to Wuhan.