Four Australians test positive for coronavirus after being evacuated from Diamond Princess cruise ship - taking the national total to 19

  • Four Australians evacuated from cruise ship in Japan confirmed with COVID-19 
  • Two women, aged 55 and 54, from QLD were holidaying on Diamond Princess 
  • They join two other Australian cases from cruise ship confirmed earlier on Friday 

By Brett Lackey For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press

Published: | Updated:

Four Australians who were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Thursday are confirmed to have coronavirus. 

On Friday night two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment. 

Earlier on Friday, a 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. His wife will travel with him but then be isolated at home for two weeks.

The other patient is a 24-year-old woman from South Australia, who will be transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital. 

The patients remain well and are being housed in a separate isolation unit at Howard Springs outside Darwin. 

Australian evacuees from the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan arrive at the Inpex Plant Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, 30km southeast of Darwin

Australian evacuees from the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan arrive at the Inpex Plant Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, 30km southeast of Darwin

Four Australians evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Thursday are confirmed to have coronavirus

Four Australians evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Thursday are confirmed to have coronavirus 

Japan Self-Defence Forces officers use canvas sheets to cover the walkway from the cruise ship Diamond Princess

Japan Self-Defence Forces officers use canvas sheets to cover the walkway from the cruise ship Diamond Princess 

Public health authorities from their home states are organising the medical transfers.

Despite clearing multiple screenings for the virus before being taken to the Howard Springs facility, Australian Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said the cases are not surprising.

'There has been ongoing detection of infection on the Diamond Princess cruise ship over the last few days, so it's not unexpected that some people might have been incubating the virus,' he told reporters in Canberra on Friday.

'It's possible more people could develop positive tests over the next few days. We don't know that, but if they do we are completely well set up to detect and manage them and isolate them.'

Prof Murphy said both evacuees were in a clinically 'reasonable' condition.

Four other people tested for coronavirus after returning to Australia on Thursday have been cleared and released from isolation back into general accommodation.

All six who had displayed cold-like symptoms were separated from others on the flight.

There are currently 174 cases of coronavirus on the boat including 15 Australians. Pictured: medical staff inside the ship

There are currently 174 cases of coronavirus on the boat including 15 Australians. Pictured: medical staff inside the ship

Medical staff dressed in protective clothing prepare to board the Diamond Princess in Yokohama, Japan

Medical staff dressed in protective clothing prepare to board the Diamond Princess in Yokohama, Japan

The two new cases take the total number in Australia to 19. Of those, 10 people have recovered.

Acting NT chief health officer Dianne Stephens said the pair's symptoms could slowly worsen over several days.

'Both these individuals will be taken into their hospital systems ... to see whether or not they're going to improve or deteriorate,' she told reporters.

'Then their own health systems have systems in place to manage the Covid-19 infected patients.'

Some 170 Australians, most aged in their 60s and 70s, will be quarantined for two weeks after leaving the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama.

Meanwhile, Australia has extended its ban on foreign travellers from China for another week as the number of infections and deaths in the coronavirus epicentre of Hubei province continues to grow.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship with some 3,700 people on board arrives at Yokohama port

The Diamond Princess cruise ship with some 3,700 people on board arrives at Yokohama port 

Medical personnel outside the quarantine zone in front of the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The boat now hosts the largest concentration of coronavirus outside of China

Medical personnel outside the quarantine zone in front of the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The boat now hosts the largest concentration of coronavirus outside of China

The government is reportedly considering easing the ban for students.

Prof Murphy said it was up to the government to consider the risks and benefits of doing so.

'At the moment our advice is that it should be maintained and reviewed in the next seven days,' he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ruled out compensation to tourism operators and universities hit by the travel ban.

'Coronavirus' impact is right across the country,' he told reporters on Friday.

'The taxpayer ... is not an insurer for these things.'

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.
    • Two more Australians who were on board tested positive after they were evacuated to Darwin on February 22  

    QUEENSLAND: 4  

    • Four Australians test positive for coronavirus after being evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship
    • Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment. 
    • Earlier a 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth . His wife will travel with him but then be isolated at home for two weeks. 

     

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    Four Australians test positive for coronavirus after being evacuated from Diamond Princess

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