Australia's coronavirus-prompted ban for foreign travellers coming from China will be extended another week, until February 29.
The decision was made by the national security committee of cabinet on Thursday as the number of infections and deaths in Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, continues to grow.
Foreign nationals - excluding permanent Australian residents - who have been in mainland China will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they left China.
Australia has extended its travel ban preventing people coming from mainland China entering the country for 14 days after leaving. Pictured: Evacuees who were quarantined on Christmas Island arriving in Sydney
Australian residents can enter the country but must isolate themselves for a fortnight.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the extension on Thursday.
'The protection and safety of Australians is our highest priority,' he tweeted.
'Today the National Security Committee of Cabinet decided, based on expert medical advice regarding the #coronavirus outbreak, it was necessary to continue the Chinese travel ban for a further week to 29 February.'
The Prime Minister said the extension came after discussions between the university and school sectors, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Education Minister Dan Tehan.
He said there is now better data regarding the cases outside mainland China, allowing for better insight from experts.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese backed the extended ban based on medical advice.
'We should be following medical advice. Neither myself or Scott Morrison - certainly Peter Dutton - are qualified doctors,' Mr Albanese said.
'So we should be listening to that advice and following it. Our first priority has to be keeping people safe.'
Fifteen people have been diagnosed with the illness in Australia.
Four flights - including one rerouted through New Zealand - have brought home Australians trapped in Wuhan following the outbreak.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison took to Twitter on Thursday to announce the extension
Australians who were on the cruise ship off of Japan - Diamond Princess - returned to Darwin on Thursday on a Qantas flight
Those people were taken to Christmas Island and the Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, an old mining camp about 30km from Darwin, for a 14-day quarantine.
Australians who were on the cruise ship off of Japan - Diamond Princess - returned to Darwin on Thursday on a Qantas flight.
Some of those people have since left their quarantine and have gone back to daily life.
Around 170 people were taken to the facility in Howard Springs, where they will spend the next 14 days.
'Our consular staff in Tokyo are continuing to support those 47 Australians who have tested positive for the virus and remain in Japan for isolation and treatment, along with their families,' Mr Morrison tweeted.
AUSTRALIANS WITH THE CORONAVIRUS
NEW SOUTH WALES: 4
January 25
Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have contracted the disease.
Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
They are being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital and are in stable condition.
January 27
A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.
The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.
She is being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital.
VICTORIA: 4
January 25
A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.
The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
He is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east.
January 29
A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.
He became unwell on January 23 - two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre. He was assessed as being well enough to stay at home.
January 30
A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus.
She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.
She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
February 1
A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus
QUEENSLAND: 5
January 29
Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national wass diagnosed with the virus.
He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.
January 30
A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.
February 4
An eight-year-old boy has been diagnosed coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from
February 5
The case was found in a 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast
February 6
A 37-year-old woman has been diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 2
February 1
A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.
CHINA: 2
January 30
Two Australians have been confirmed as having the virus in Wuhan itself. Australia has raised the travel alert level to 'do not travel' for the city of Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - and for the entire Hubei province.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says unless people have contact with someone who is unwell and has come from that part of China, there is no need for current concern.
JAPAN: 15
As of February 15, 47 Australians are among 219 confirmed cases of the coronavirus contracted on board Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama.
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Australia extends coronavirus ban on foreign travellers from China AGAIN
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