Chinese students urged to ‘walk quickly’ past the public to avoid spreading the deadly coronavirus

‘Walk quickly’: Bizarre advice offered to Chinese students arriving in Australia as authorities scramble to stop the spread of the coronavirus

  • Hundreds of Chinese school students will complete year 11 and 12 in Australia
  • They are set to stay with Australian host families after touching down from China
  • They’re being told to walk fast around the house during their two-week isolation
  • They are also advised to use a separate bathroom from the rest of the household
  • There are 389 Chinese students set to undergo year 11 and 12 courses in Victoria
  • 153 will partake in school courses in NSW, with more scattered around Australia 

Chinese students are being urged to ‘walk quickly’ to avoid spreading the deadly coronavirus.

Hundreds of Chinese high school students are set to stay with Australian families when arriving in the country to continue their year 11 and 12 courses.

They will spend two weeks in isolation after touching down, but are being told to walk fast around the house to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to their host family. 

‘If the student lives in an apartment it is also safe for them to go outside into the garden while wearing a surgical mask,’ the quarantine guidelines said.

‘They should, however, go quickly through any common areas on the way to the garden. They should wear a surgical mask if they have to move through these areas.’

Travellers at Brisbane International Airport on January 29. Chinese students are being urged to ‘walk quickly’ to avoid spreading the deadly coronavirus

China has gone into lockdown after the virus claimed more than  2,700 lives (pictured, students in Beijing)

China has gone into lockdown after the virus claimed more than  2,700 lives (pictured, students in Beijing) 

Last week the government lifted the travel ban, allowing Chinese students undertaking year 11 and 12 in Australia to enter the country in order to pass their courses.

But the relaxation of the rules still bans students from Hubei province in China, the epicentre of the outbreak, from entering Australia. 

Around 760 Chinese students could be allowed into Australia if they are tested for coronavirus before leaving China and again when touching down here.  

After this, they will be quarantined at home for 14 days before being allowed to go to school.  

There are 389 Chinese students set to undergo year 11 and 12 courses in Victoria, and around 153 in New South Wales, with more scattered around other parts of Australia. 

But under the Victorian Government’s quarantine guidelines, host families aren’t required to wear masks and don’t have to isolate themselves from the public.    

‘Other members of the household are not required to be isolated unless they have also travelled to mainland China in the past 14 days, or have been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Other members of the household do not need to wear a mask at any time,’ Victoria’s Department of Health states.

According to Federal Department of Health guidelines, quarantined students are only required to wear a mask if symptoms develop.

They’re also advised to use a separate bathroom from the rest of the household.  

So far 23 people in Australia have been diagnosed with coronavirus and all have been cleared. 

Hundreds of Chinese high school students are set to stay with Australian families when arriving in the country to continue their year 11 and 12 courses

 Hundreds of Chinese high school students are set to stay with Australian families when arriving in the country to continue their year 11 and 12 courses

Eight of those cases were passengers who were on the Diamond Princess cruise.  

Overnight on Thursday the World Health Organisation said the coronavirus outbreak, which began in China’s Hubei province in December, had reached a ‘decisive point’ and urged countries to redouble efforts to contain its spread.

It’s now affecting 47 countries, has killed more than 2,800 people and infected more than 82,500.

‘This virus has pandemic potential,’ WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned.

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 23

NEW SOUTH WALES: 4  

January 25

  • Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China contracted the disease.
  • Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
  • They were treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital

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. 

VICTORIA: 7

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 was quarantined 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.

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 

 February 22 

  • Two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive
  • Third passenger taken off the cruise ship tests positive

QUEENSLAND: 8

January 29

  • Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national was 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 was diagnosed with coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from    

February 5  

  • A 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast, also tested positive

February 6

  • A 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27

February 21                                                                                                                                      

  • Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment. 
  • A 57-year-old woman from Queensland also tested positive for the virus  

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 3

February 1

  • A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.
  • A 24-year-old woman from South Australia was transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 1

February 21

  • A 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. On February 28, he was taken into intensive care in a ‘serious’ condition

DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP: 8

  • Of the 23 overall cases in Australia, eight contracted the disease on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had gone into quarantine in the Japanese port of Yokohama
  • They tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at the Manigurr-ma Village Howard Springs facility in Darwin, and are now being treated in their home states

 

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