Coronavirus travel block extended
THE China travel ban has been extended for another seven days, with decisions on further extensions to be made on a weekly basis, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced as coronavirus cases increase.
The tourism and education sectors are prepare for the impacts of “unprecedented crisis” to potentially last for months, with the uncertainty adding to the difficulties.
A spike in the number of confirmed cases has resulted in more than 60,000 people, mostly in China, with the disease and more than 1300 deaths.
Mr Morrison said he was mindful of the economic woes, but the tough decision reflected the threat to public health.
“My job is to protect the health of Australians right now, that is the government’s top priority,” he said.
“We are very mindful of the economic impacts, but the threat it would otherwise present to the health of Australians is of a level that has led us to take this decision on the best expert medical advice.”
He confirmed Treasury had been doing modelling on the economic impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus, but there were still too many unknowns.
“There’s any number of scenarios that could play out,” Mr Morrison said.
Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the continued transmission of the virus between people in Chinese provinces outside Hubei was a major factor in extending the ban.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council boss Daniel
Gschwind said Covid-19 was an “unprecedented crisis”.
Home Affairs data shows more than 36,000 short-term visitors from China would normally be coming to Queensland in February, none of whom will be able to arrive if the ban is sustained.
Mr Gschwind said Chinese tourists would normally spend more than $500 million in the first quarter of the year.
“As it increasingly becomes clear that this crisis will tail off for a long time, for months not weeks. Some airlines have already indicated they will not be starting to fly again until at least March, possibly beyond.”