The Hon Alan Tudge MP is currently acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs
Subjects: Coronavirus update
ALAN TUDGE: Today I'm filling in for Greg Hunt, the Health Minister, in terms of providing the update on the coronavirus, and I'm here with Paul Kelly, who, as you probably know, is the Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
The reason we're actually here today is because immediately after this press conference, I'll be hosting a roundtable discussion with about 40 Chinese-Australian community leaders. The purpose of this roundtable discussion is for us to provide information to those community leaders about the actions which we have been taken to tackle the coronavirus, to offer our empathy and support to those communities through those leaders, and equally importantly for us to listen to any of the concerns which they have, which we may well be able to address, and of course, to answer any questions. And Mr Kelly will be there for that roundtable discussion along with one of the Assistant Border Force Commissioners as well to be able to deal with any of the technical questions which they may have.
On that note, I might just start, if I may, just by offering my empathy and my support to the broader Australian-Chinese community. All of us are feeling the effects of the coronavirus globally. But I think, particularly, the Australian-Chinese community are feeling it - through their family ties, through their community ties. We offer our support and we embrace them in this difficult time for them. We are very empathetic towards their concerns right now and their concerns for their loved ones who may be back in China.
In the same breath, I'd just like to emphasise and encourage everybody to continue to go to those locations in Australia which might have an Australian, high Chinese presence. Because those locations, whether it be Chatswood or Hurstville or Glen Waverley down in Melbourne or Box Hill, the health risks of those locations has not changed. I know in many cases, people are concerned about going to some of those locations, and that means that those local businesses aren't getting the same traffic as they used to get. In fact, I was in Glen Waverley over the weekend, which is just next door to my electorate, and some of the business owners were saying that their sales were down 50 per cent. So, we just want to encourage everybody to go about your business as you ordinarily would, and support those businesses, please, because otherwise you hurt them as much as you'll hurt anybody else.
Now, in relation to the coronavirus update, I can inform you, in terms of the latest global figures, that there are a total now of- over 75,000 cases of the coronavirus have been reported, including now over 2000 deaths, 2009 specifically.
In Australia, since 25 January, 15 laboratory cases have been confirmed in Australia. That figure has not changed to this date. Eight of those cases are reported to have recovered, with the remaining cases understood to be in a stable condition. As you would know, all 15 of those cases had direct or indirect contact with Wuhan.
In relation to Christmas Island, the 36 remaining evacuees on Christmas Island all passed their screening tests yesterday and they departed this morning, and the departure flight left Christmas Island at 11 o'clock and they're flying to Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane and then finally, to Melbourne later this evening. So, that is great news that I know will be of enormous relief to those 36 people who have been on Christmas Island. They will be reunited safely with their loved ones back home in their home cities today or later on this evening. We thank them for their patience, in going about what would have been a difficult situation for them.
Finally, I'd just like to give a further update in relation to the people who've been on the Diamond Princess, and the Prime Minister made some comments in relation to this today. I can confirm that the total number of passengers and staff aboard the Diamond Princess that have tested positive is 542, including 88 new cases which were announced late yesterday, and of those cases, 36 of those are confirmed to be in Australia.
The Qantas repatriation flight, which was announced by the Prime Minister on Monday, is due to leave the airport very early tomorrow morning and arrive in Darwin early on the morning of 20 February. Now, I can say that no passengers will board the plane if they have any symptoms of the coronavirus or test positive, obviously, to the coronavirus.
The people boarding this flight will actually have five screenings conducted: one as they depart Japan; two on board the flight; one on further arrival at the RAAF Darwin base; and the final one as they arrive at the Howard Springs facility in Darwin. We expect about 100 people to be boarding that plane. About 15 people have decided to stay behind. The number of people boarding the plane is actually a figure higher than we had anticipated, but that we expect to be about 180. That figure will be finalised and announced by the Japanese authorities when we know the final figure.
On the advice of the medical experts, the Australian Government will be mandating a 14-day quarantine period for all other passengers. The passengers will be transferred to the Howard Springs accommodation facility in the Northern Territory and they'll be obviously in a quarantine arrangement there for the full 14 days before they are able to be allowed to return to their home towns. Again, we offer our tremendous thanks and empathy towards those people who have been on the Diamond Princess for the last close to two weeks now, and I imagine it must have been a very difficult time for them. For some, it'll be frustrating, for others, quite anxious. But we've now got the processes in place to ensure that those Australians can return home and be back with their loved ones. And so we again thank them for their patience; them doing the right thing, really, by all Australians. We really look forward to them being united with their families in the not too distant future.
I might hand over now to Mr Kelly to provide any further details in relation to the coronavirus and then we can answer any questions.
PAUL KELLY: Thank you Minister. I won't add much because of your comprehensive overview. But just to say that, in relation to the Diamond Princess, our expert Australian medical teams are on the ground in Tokyo, in Yokohama in fact, and some of them are already on the ship, assessing the people for that travel, and it appears to be going well.
The other thing I would just say is to just to reinforce what the Minister said about the Australian situation. We have had 15 cases here only. There have not been any cases for almost two weeks. All of those cases have been directly associated with people that have travelled from Wuhan, which is the centre of this epidemic and remains the centre of this epidemic. So there is no reason why anyone should be concerned about going to areas of our major cities or anywhere else where Chinese people may be living, Chinese businesses and so on.
It's very important at this difficult time that we support the community, the Chinese community. They are the ones that are bearing the brunt in China of this issue, and here in Australia, because of the ties to the Chinese community in terms of relatives and so on. So, this is not a time to avoid Chinese businesses and areas where Chinese people are living. It's exactly the opposite.
So I'm happy to take questions. I'm sure the Minister is as well.
JOURNALIST: Minister, can you just clarify - you mentioned a couple of numbers in relation to the evacuations from Japan. You said 100 initially and then I think you later on said 180.
ALAN TUDGE: Oh sorry. We expect about 180.
JOURNALIST: 180?
ALAN TUDGE: Yeah, that's right.
JOURNALIST: Not 100?
ALAN TUDGE: No, sorry. I don't think I said a hundred. I meant 180. So, we expect that 180 who will be boarding the plane to come back to Australia and about 15 people who have chosen to remain behind.
JOURNALIST: Okay. And have you either of you seen anything in the past week that would lead you to think that Australia should ease or lift the travel ban when it's due to expire on Saturday?
ALAN TUDGE: So, that decision will be made by the National Security Cabinet, National Security Committee of Cabinet, later this week and obviously, on the basis of the advice from the chief medical officers and other health advice.
JOURNALIST: Mr Kelly, have you seen anything changed that you think might mean that Australia could take a different position?
PAUL KELLY: Well, that sort of decision will be made at the National Security Committee of Cabinet. We'll be advising on what we know about what's happening in China and the rest of the world. And as has been said already by the Minister, we've had an increase in cases again. I think we can see from what's happened on the Diamond Princess, almost 20 per cent of people on that boat have become infected with the virus over the last two weeks. It's very infectious. And there are over 2000 deaths. So, all of these things will play in. We will look at the epidemiology of the virus in China. So, at the moment, most of the cases are still coming from Hubei province and less from the other provinces, so that's an important component to take into account.
But all along, what we- our advice has been based and the Government [indistinct] advice from the medical expertise. We are wanting to protect the health and wellbeing of Australians, and that's our number one aim.
JOURNALIST: So you're saying that the Government's been listening to the advice. What's the advice on the travel ban? Should it be extended?
PAUL KELLY: So, we'll be providing that advice to the National Security Committee of Cabinet when they meet tomorrow.
JOURNALIST: So you won't say?
PAUL KELLY: That'll be going to Cabinet tomorrow.
JOURNALIST: Just on the cruise ship - will the Australians being treated in Japanese hospitals be subjected to a 14-day entry ban once they're discharged?
PAUL KELLY: That's correct. There'll be - for anyone who stays in Japan, whether they choose to stay - and as the Minister said, some will choose to stay because their relatives are in hospital. For all of those in hospital, there will be a 14-day exclusion period.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible question]
PAUL KELLY: Our teams are actually on the ship at the moment, so we'll be getting some more information about that later in the day. But our sense is that the quarantine did actually work in terms of keeping the virus away from the Japanese population and initially, it seemed to be going well in terms of protecting the passengers. However, over the last week, there has been a very large increase in the number of infections, and even in the last day another 88 have been found to be positive. We suspect, but we don't know for sure, that there were issues in relation to the crew and certainly now, some of the crew members are also getting sick. It just demonstrates the infectiousness of this particular virus and how it can spread very easily in a closed setting like a cruise ship.
JOURNALIST: Minister, the Consul-General of China invited some media to the Consulate this morning and during a media conference, he described Australia's travel ban as excessive and an overreaction. What do you say to that?
ALAN TUDGE: Well, I'll just say that we are prioritising the health of Australians first and foremost, and the decisions which the National Security Committee of Cabinet have been made with Australians' best interests at heart and on the back of the best medical advice that we have, and that's the way it will continue.
JOURNALIST: He said that it was in conflict with the advice of the WHO. Is that the case?
ALAN TUDGE: Well, again, the advice which we get is from the Chief Medical Officer of Australia, who consults, I know, with the chief medical officers of each of the states and territories. They provide advice to the National Security Committee and it's from that advice that decisions are made.
Okay. Thanks everybody.
