Medicos speed up testing for virus

TESTS for the deadly coronavirus can now be turned around in one day, as the number of deaths and cases continues to climb.

Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said testing processes for the virus have matured.

“The laboratories now believe that they can get an answer which is good enough to act on within the same day now,” he told reporters in Canberra yesterday.

There are no confirmed cases of the virus in Australia.

But health authorities in NSW confirmed yesterday that four people in the state were under investigation for potential coronavirus infection. As of yesterday afternoon, there had been 25 reported deaths from the virus and 844 cases worldwide, including 830 in China.

Professor Murphy expects more cases to occur outside of China, but has stressed that it’s “very hard to predict”.

“We suspect that we’ll see increasing numbers of cases for some time,” he said. “But eventually, hopefully it will peak and we’ll see a plateauing.” Scientists are beginning to work on a vaccination for the virus, with a team of Queensland researchers one of three teams around the world working around the clock.

The first plane load of passengers from Wuhan in China – the epicentre of the virus – touched down in Sydney on Thursday.

Passengers and crew wore face masks and those who flagged concerns about their health had their temperature taken.

NSW Health had doctors and nurses experienced in infection control at the airport working alongside the Australian Border Force. Virology experts were also there.

No ill passengers were found on the flight.

However, those exposed to

WE SUSPECT THAT WE’LL SEE INCREASING NUMBERS OF CASES ... HOPEFULLY IT WILL PEAK AND WE’LL SEE PLATEAUING PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY

the virus may not display flulike symptoms for up to a week.

China has put millions of people in lockdown in an attempt to curb the virus from spreading.

Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad for the Lunar New Year, which begins today.

The previously unknown virus strain is believed to have emerged late last year from illegally traded wildlife at an animal market.

Most transport in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, was suspended on Thursday and people were told not to leave.