Travel ban extended as Aussies fly in

AN unprecedented travel ban blocking travellers from China is being extended for another week, following the evacuation of more than 150 Australians from a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship in Japan.

The ban is a further blow to Australia’s struggling tourism businesses, the China-reliant university sector and the federal budget.

Until February 29, foreign nationals who have been in China will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they left the coronavirus-hit country.

“The protection and safety of Australians is our highest priority,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

The extension comes as 159 Australians and three permanent residents begin two weeks of quarantine at a facility in Darwin after a fortnight aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The 170 passengers aboard the Qantas charter broke into a spontaneous round of applause as the plane touched down in Australia yesterday morning.

Forty-seven Australians already diagnosed with coronavirus were forced to remain in Japan.

A further 24 people did not get on the flight, mainly family members of those who had tested positive to the virus.

Two elderly Japanese people from the cruise ship died of the illness, local media reported yesterday.

The 87-year-old man and the 84-year-old woman both had pre-existing medical conditions.

Northern Territory Deputy Chief Health Minister Dianne Stephens said some of the evacuees had minor cold symptoms upon arrival in the Northern Territory and would be tested for the virus, now known as COVID-19.

“There were six people off that plane identified as having minor sniffles and sore throats that we have separated completely,” she said.

“If somebody does test positive for COVID-19, we are fully prepared to manage that situation out at Howard Springs, or in the Royal Darwin Hospital, and the jurisdictions are ready to come and retrieve patients who require that.”

Melbourne retirees Adina and Les Morris said conditions in the former workers’ camp outside Darwin were primitive.

Mrs Morris, 74, said the couple were put in separate rooms that only had a single bed.

“It’s just a cubicle with a little window, and that is all it is,’’ she said. “This is a Third World country here.”

“I do not know what we are going to do here for 14 days.”

Mrs Morris was worried about sleeping apart from her 88-year-old husband, who has a heart condition and sleep apnoea.

“Something could happen in the middle of the night and I wouldn’t know,’’ she said.

More than 2100 people have died from the illness so far.