Two people evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive for coronavirus after being taken to Darwin from Japan

  • Two more Australians test positive for coronavirus after evacuated from cruise
  • Among 164 evacuees who arrived in Darwin from virus-hit Diamond Princess
  • One person is from South Australia while the other is Western Australia

By Kylie Stevens For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press

Published: | Updated:

Two people have tested positive for coronavirus after being evacuated to Australia from the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan. 

Six Australians were isolated from others after they presented with minor respiratory and fever symptoms when they arrived at Darwin Airport on Thursday morning. 

Both patients who tested positive remain well and are being housed in a separate isolation unit at Howard Springs outside Darwin.

One is from South Australia while the other is Western Australia.

The other four have since been cleared of the virus and will be released from isolation later on Friday.

Two people have tested positive for coronavirus after being evacuated to Australia. Pictured are Diamond Princess cruise ship evacuees disembarking from the flight in Darwin

Two people have tested positive for coronavirus after being evacuated to Australia. Pictured are Diamond Princess cruise ship evacuees disembarking from the flight in Darwin

Public health authorities from their home states are organising medical transfers for the patients and their partners.

'Those people remain well and mildly ill with cold-like symptoms and they do not necessarily need to be in the hospital system,' acting NT chief health officer Dianne Stephens said on Friday.

'But more than likely (they) will enter the hospital system in their home states while they manage the quarantine and isolation procedures.'

Ms Stephens described the individuals as 'one younger person and one older person' but didn't give any further details.

Evacuees were transported by bus to the Howard Springs quarantine centre

Evacuees were transported by bus to the Howard Springs quarantine centre

She said their symptoms could slowly worsen over several days.

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

The 164 Australian passengers evacuated will spend two weeks in quarantine at the Howard Springs quarantine centre. 

Australia's chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy has assured all measures were taken to ensure the protection of other passengers on the flight.

Evacuated cruise ship passengers (pictured in Darwin) will spend two weeks in quarantine

Evacuated cruise ship passengers (pictured in Darwin) will spend two weeks in quarantine

'Given there was continued evidence of spread of infection on board the Diamond Princess in recent days, the development of some positive cases after return to Australia is not unexpected, despite all of the health screening before departure,' he said in a statement on Friday.

'All passengers were health screened before being allowed to leave the ship, none had positive tests or any symptoms of disease,' Professor Murphy said.

'They were monitored throughout the flight, screened again at the RAAF Base in Darwin and again on arrival at [Howard Springs].

The evacuees arrived in Darwin on Thursday hours after it was confirmed two Japanese passengers aged in their 80s who had been on board the cruise had died in hospital, as the death toll from the global outbreak climbs to 2250.

Around 47 Australians who were on board the Diamond Princess remain in Japan after either getting infected or deciding to wait out the rest of their quarantine on board.

The Australians were evacuated from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess (pictured in Japan)

The Australians were evacuated from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess (pictured in Japan)

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  
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    Two people evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

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