Tough stance on virus
Authorities can use sweeping powers
AUTHORITIES have been granted extraordinary new powers to forcibly detain and treat suspected coronavirus victims as the number of Queenslanders being tested for the deadly virus yesterday exploded to 41.
People who defy the specific orders of authorities risk fines and jail time under the Public Health Emergency Order approved by Health Minister Steven Miles.
Under the sweeping powers, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young can issue written orders to a person or group to remain at a particular location for as long as the emergency order is in place.
The order also allows authorities to prevent people from going to certain locations and use reasonable force to compel an individual when a direction is not being followed.
The controversial measures have been in place in Queensland
law since 2005 but have only been enforced once in 2009 to order a cruise ship suspected of carrying swine flu sufferers to return to Brisbane rather than dock at Port Douglas.
More than 40 people in Queensland are awaiting test results for the Wuhan coronavirus as health authorities struggle to track down dozens of travellers who shared a plane with the state’s first known case of the illness.
Four of the 41 people being tested are part of a nine-member Chinese tour group travelling with Queensland’s only confirmed case of the virus, a 44-year-old man from Wuhan, the city in central China where the new virus is believed to have originated.
Dr Young said the nine Chinese travellers flew into the Gold Coast from Melbourne on Tigerair Australia flight TT566 at 8.45pm on Monday, January 27.
At least 12 Queensland schools have quarantined boarding students as they ramp up isolation in the wake of a school ban on anyone who has travelled to China.
It comes after the State Government yesterday urged anyone who had visited any part of China or Hong Kong to not attend early childcare centres, schools or TAFEs for 14 days after leaving to prevent spreading deadly coronavirus.
A Far North team of white water rafting titleholders, the Aus Crocs, are nervously awaiting news ahead of their August world championship bid. The International Rafting Federation’s 2020 World Championships are scheduled to be in Ziyuan, Guang Xi Province. The city is an eighthour drive from the coronavirus epicentre, Wuhan.
Team coach Mark Miller is taking a cautious approach.
“We don’t know what is going on at the moment,” Mr Miller said. “I sent a message to organisers and they don’t know what is going on either.”