Australian cities ranked among those most at risk of coronavirus
Canberra: Australian cities rank among the top spots in a list of places which have the highest risk from the spread of the deadly coronavirus outbreak outside of China, according to a leading university.
The University of Southampton’s WorldPop researchers analysed the volume of travellers entering countries from high-risk cities within China prior to and after Chinese New Year, giving countries a risk percentage. Australia ranks 10th, higher than Macau (13th) – China’s special administrative region which shares a border with the mainland. Thailand ranks first with a risk factor of 15 per cent, twice that of third-place Hong Kong, while Japan is second with an 11.5 per cent risk.
Germany, despite being one of the first countries to confirm human-to-human transmission between people who hadn’t travelled to China, ranks 15th.
In a breakdown of cities, Sydney ranks 12th in the world while Melbourne 14th. The threat posed to the two state capitals is greater than the major Asian hubs of Ho Chi Minh City (20th), Manila (25th) and Jakarta (28th). Bangkok and Hong Kong are ranked first and second respectively.
“The spread of the new coronavirus is a fast moving situation and we are closely monitoring the epidemic in order to provide further up-to-date analysis on the likely spread,” Dr Shengjie Lai at the University of Southampton said.
Seventh Australian coronavirus case confirmed
The first case of novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Queensland, bringing Australia’s total number of people infected to seven - just hours after a second case was identified in Victoria. A 44-year-old Chinese national from Wuhan has contracted the disease and is currently stable and isolated at the Gold Coast University Hospital, Queensland’s chief medical officer Jeannette Young said.
Another 14 people were currently undergoing testing in the state.