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Foreign Minister Marise Payne says the Federal Government is exploring "all opportunities" to help evacuate Australians trapped in Hubei, China, and at risk of coronavirus.
- Marise Payne says getting Australians in Wuhan help is proving "significantly difficult"
- She says travel restrictions and a lack of consulate are limiting Australia's efforts
- The United States and France are reportedly trying to use charter flights to evacuate citizens
The ABC has confirmed that more than 100 Australian children are currently trapped in that area, which is now in lockdown.
While other nations are reportedly trying to evacuate their citizens with chartered flights, Senator Payne said there were limitations to the assistance the Australian Government could provide because Australia does not have a consular presence in the region.
She said Australian consular officials in Beijing were in close consultation with Chinese authorities.
"It is, I think, very important to appreciate that there are limitations to what we can do," Senator Payne said.
"We don't have a consular presence on the ground so getting in to help, given the travel restrictions, continues to be a significant difficulty.
"We also have to remind ourselves that the Chinese Government has placed the travel restrictions in place in these areas to contain the coronavirus outbreak itself."
Earlier today, NSW Health has confirmed the state's fourth case of coronavirus in Sydney after several schools warned pupils whose families have been to China would need a doctor's certificate before term one.
The latest case, which brings the number of confirmed cases in Australia to five, is a 21-year-old woman.
Eighty people are now dead worldwide as the virus continues to spread, with 2,744 confirmed cases.
A Melbourne man in his 50s who recently spent time in Wuhan was diagnosed over the weekend.
NSW is investigating six other potential cases, while Western Australia is waiting on results for four patients.
A Melbourne Chinese school has postponed the start of the school year because of concerns about the outbreak.
The Xin Jin Shan Chinese Language and Culture School, in Mount Waverley, has sent a letter to parents explaining the start of the school year will be delayed a week.
The letter says parents have contacted the school, worried the virus could be spread when parents and teachers return on the first day of term.
The confirmation of more cases in Australia comes as federal health authorities enhance their monitoring of people flying into Australia from China.
"The concern, I think, is the number of cases outside of the Hubei province in China," Australia's chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy said.
"And that's why we've started looking at people who've come from parts of China other than Hubei as potentially at risk."
Senator Payne said it was unclear how many Australians were in Hubei but that the Department of Foreign Affairs' emergency line had received more than 380 calls.
"We're treating this situation with the utmost seriousness," Senator Payne said.
"We're holding discussions again this afternoon to determine as quickly as possible how we're able to help.
"I absolutely understand the emotion and the concern that many Australians have about family members who are currently in this region in China. It is an extremely stressful experience for them."
The Commonwealth is "urgently seeking" advice from global medical experts to confirm if coronavirus is contagious when an infected person is not showing symptoms.
China's National Health Commission said the virus was infectious during incubation, however, Australian authorities are seeking further advice.
"The evidence we've seen doesn't suggest that there's clear proof of that but we're urgently seeking advice from the World Health Organisation and international experts because if that were to be the case, it'd have implications for how we do contact tracing," Professor Murphy said.
Topics: government-and-politics, infectious-diseases-other, disease-control, health, diseases-and-disorders, respiratory-diseases, australia, china, asia, hong-kong, united-states, singapore, canada
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