Health Minister, Greg Hunt has moved to reassure the Australian public that medical teams are “fully prepared” to treat and manage any incidents of novel coronavirus on Christmas Island.
Mr Hunt said the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) medical assistance teams deployed to Christmas Island to handle Australian citizens airlifted out of Wuhan on Monday were well prepared.
“The advice I have from the Director of the NCCTRC, which runs the Australian medical assistance teams, is that the personnel are in place,” Mr Hunt said.
“At this stage we are not expecting people to be ill there, but they are fully-prepared and I think that’s a very important message for the Australian people – fully prepared.”
He said the NCCTRC’s Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) and its mobile hospital was set up and ready to screen and treat passengers.
“They will also be on the flight to make sure that all protocols are followed and finally, to ensure that if any passenger were to fall sick, that they were immediately taken care of,” Mr Hunt said.
The first Qantas flight to extract Australian citizens from China departed Wuhan with almost 300 passengers on board on Monday (3 February).
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the introduction of strict new travel restrictions and updated travel advice for China.
“Effective immediately, foreign nationals (excluding permanent residents) who are in mainland China from today 1 February) forward, will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they have left or transited through mainland China,” Mr Morrison said.
“Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter, as will their immediate family members.”
He said the restrictions were a temporary measure and would be reviewed in 14 days.
He said the Government travel advice to Australians for all of mainland China remains at Level Four – “Do Not Travel”.