Four Australians among 40 new coronavirus cases on cruise ship
Four Australians are among 40 new coronavirus cases confirmed on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
The total number of passengers who have fallen ill with the deadly virus – now officially dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation – is now 175, Japan’s health ministry says.
There are 15 infected Australians onboard.
Kyodo news agency, citing the health ministry, said that of the 39 cases, 10 were crew and 29 were passengers.
A quarantine officer, who was collecting processing questionnaires from passengers on board, was one of the staff members diagnosed, according to the ABC.
Ten of the newly infected were Japanese nationals and the others were from 11 countries, including the United States and China. Four were in serious condition.
The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on February 3 after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus.
The epidemic originated in mainland China, where more than 1100 people have now died from the virus.
About 3700 people are aboard the ship, which usually has a crew of 1100 and a passenger capacity of 2670.
The ministry said tests were being conducted for others who were deemed to need them and it would announce the results later.
The UK-flagged Diamond Princess is managed by Princess Cruise Lines, one of the world's largest cruise lines and a unit of Carnival Corp.
The government was considering allowing elderly and those with chronic illnesses to disembark before the February 19 target date for ending the quarantine, some media reported, but added it would take time to figure out where they could be sent.
As of last week, about 80 per cent of the passengers were aged 60 or over, with 215 in their 80s and 11 in the 90s, the English-language Japan Times newspaper reported.
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Australians on Christmas island will head home
The first Australians quarantined on Christmas Island are on course to leave the former detention centre next week with three suspected cases testing negative for the coronavirus.
So far, 540 Australians have been airlifted from the Chinese province of Hubei – the epicentre of the virus – and quarantined on Christmas Island and a worker camp near Darwin.
Pending final tests, the first evacuees on Christmas Island will return home on Monday with a second group leaving on Wednesday.
"We have in place a system in Australia which, at this point, I stress at this point, is containing the spread," Health Minister Greg Hunt told parliament.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said a further flight out of China was not being considered, particularly as Qantas had now ceased flights to and from the country.
The travel ban on overseas Chinese students and tourists coming into Australia is having an enormous impact on the Australian economy, but Mr Hunt says people's health comes first.
"We are very aware, like, deeply aware, of the economic consequences," he said.
"But the consequences of contagion within Australia at an economic, let alone more significantly a human level, would be extraordinary."
Of the 15 cases reported within Australia, five have recovered and the remaining 10 are all stable.
Earlier Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said authorities are prepared for all eventualities.
He said the worst-case scenario would be if the virus was very severe and there was a significant pandemic in Australia.
"That would obviously be a very significant strain on our health system and on our economy," he said.
"We are not anticipating that at the moment but we are certainly prepared for all eventualities."
Incubation period still unknown
Prof Murphy's deputy Paul Kelly told reporters there had been debate over the length of the 14-day quarantine period.
"There are still many things we don't know about this virus, one of those is that incubation period," he said.
"We are using 14 days as a precautionary approach, it's most likely less than that."
The head of World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday said the virus possessed "a very grave threat for the rest of the world".
Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone said the message was timely.
Dr Bartone said while Australia had been "very robustly" at the forefront of efforts, not everyone was doing their utmost to ensure "what is currently a very serious situation does not become a major calamitous outbreak".
He declined to point the finger at any particular country.
However, Prof Murphy said he felt it was "very surprising" that no cases had been reported in neighbouring and highly populated Indonesia.
"There should be a cause for some concern. There may be undetected cases," he said.
Senator Payne said Australian authorities were working with their Indonesian counterparts and would provide support if required.
Chinese authorities believe the spread of the virus has peaked and it will be over by April.
But Prof Murphy said it was too early to make such predictions as to whether the Chinese were getting on top of this at the moment.
Mr Hunt said there were 44,754 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide and 1112 deaths.
– with AAP
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