Students face weeks in quarantine after China return
Brisbane: Ten students who returned from China will spend two weeks in quarantine at their Brisbane boarding school to manage any risk of them spreading the deadly coronavirus.
The Stuarthome School for girls is taking high-level precautions to ensure the student population isn’t exposed to the risk of the virus, which is rapidly spreading in mainland China.
School principal Kristen Sharpe said the students were met at the airport and they would spend two weeks in quarantine on the fifth floor of their boarding house, An 11th student was unable to return because they were in a part of China locked down in a bid to halt the spread of the virus, which has so far killed 106 people, and infected more than 4515 globally, most in China. Ms Sharpe said the current advice from Queensland Health was that the students would be allowed to attend class, if health checks by school nurses did not detect any signs of illness each morning.
But Ms Sharpe also suggested that could change.
“We have also noted that the NSW and Victorian health departments have different information. We’ll be waiting to see what Queensland Health say today,” she told the
Ms Sharpe said the girls would enjoy “luxurious”
accommodation and would be well cared for.
She said all parents and students were aware of the arrangements, adding “every boarding school would be concerned about this, and trying to manage it as best they can”. Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace says every school in the state has been briefed on what to do, as thousands of kids return to class for 2020.
Five cases in Australia
Nationally, there are five confirmed cases of coronavirus: four in NSW and one in Victoria,
but none so far in Queensland.
But efforts have been made to contact four other people in Queensland who were on the same flight as the Victorian patient who tested positive.
NSW Health confirmed that five people were also undergoing testing.
A man in his 50s in Victoria was being treated at Monash Medical Centre while four of his family members are under home isolation.
Australian chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy said authorities were doing their best to contact people who had been in close proximity to those who had been diagnosed with the virus, but more positive results were inevitable.