China airlift to island plan
VULNERABLE children and elderly Australians trapped in China’s locked-down Hubei province could be evacuated to Christmas Island as the Government ramps up its response to the coronavirus crisis.
The rescue plan comes as a Melbourne man in his 60s was yesterday confirmed as Australia’s sixth case of the new respiratory disease.
The man, who had travelled to Wuhan City, became unwell two days after returning from China and has now been isolated.
NSW Health was last night testing 16 people – including a two-year-old child – after expanding its focus to anyone with virus symptoms who had visited Hubei Province, not just Wuhan.
Australians who have recently returned from the province have been asked to stay home from work and school for two weeks, after medical experts confirmed several cases of the virus spreading before symptoms appeared.
German authorities have reported at least four people contracted coronavirus from a woman who had been to Wuhan before she showed symptoms.
More than 6000 people have now been diagnosed with the disease and 132 people in China have died, with more cases feared to be under-reported by people who only have mild symptoms.
The Federal Government has asked for Chinese approval to send a Qantas Boeing 747 into Wuhan to fly out some of the 600 Australians registered as being trapped in the city.
Evacuees would then be quarantined on Christmas Island for up to 14 days to ensure they are not incubating the virus. Australian Daniel Ou Yang is stuck in Wuhan, but said he feared he would be treated like a detainee if he was sent to Christmas Island.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation would be on a “last in first out” basis with “isolated and vulnerable” Australians prioritised.
Mr Morrison said an Australian Medical Assistance Team would be sent to the island to support the evacuees, while the Australian Defence Force has been tasked to identify overflow facilities if needed.
The US and Japanese governments yesterday evacuated consular staff from the Hubei Province, while British Airways announced it would suspend bookings of London flights to Beijing and Shanghai.
But Mr Morrison said Australia was not yet considering suspending any flights.