Coronavirus: Australia and New Zealand to fly citizens from China to Christmas Island for quarantine

Australia is planning to evacuate its citizens from China to quarantine on Christmas Island in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Both Australia and New Zealand are arranging to fly out their most “isolated and vulnerable” citizens from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and the surrounding Hubei province to quarantine for two weeks.

Those evacuated will fly on a “last-in first-out” basis from Hubei to Christmas Island, an immigration detention facility, located 2,600km from mainland Australia.

Christmas Island's Shire President Gordon Thomson criticised the move which he told ABC news would turn the island into a "leper colony."

The detention centre, known for housing refugees and asylum seekers, controversially reopened in March 2019 at a cost of $185m.

During its peak the centre housed thousands of people and was notorious for riots and unrest, with deaths among detainees being common.

Its sole occupants are a Sri Lankan family-of-four who were not notified evacuees would soon be joining them.

The Murugappan family were sent to the remote island in the Indian ocean last August and are waging a campaign, backed by the UN, to return to their hometown of Biloela in Queenstown.

The Qantas flight will be arranged in close consultation with China, with citizens required to contribute to the cost of transport and quarantine.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the priority was evacuating young people, infants, and the elderly.

He said: “We’re particularly focused on the more vulnerable components of that population.”

Morrison said the timeframe to evacuate foreign nationals was “limited”, adding that short-term visitors would be a higher priority than those who have family or support in the province.

There are 600 registered Australians and an estimated 53 New Zealanders in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the deadly virus outbreak.

Morrison explained there was no guarantee the Qantas plane would be able to land, adding that “there are many complications and many issues that we’re going to have to overcome.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed her officials were working closely with Australia to help its citizens leave Hubei.

The confirmed death toll from coronavirus stands at 132 in China.

At the time of writing no deaths from the coronavirus have been reported outside of China.

Australia has recorded six confirmed cases of coronavirus with the number expected to rise.

However, Prof Brendan Murphy, federal chief medical officer, said “there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission in Australia.”

The Chinese women's football team was quarantined in Australia after arriving to play in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

Both Australia and New Zealand have advised its citizens against non-essential travel to China.