Chinese woman in Melbourne is confirmed to have coronavirus – taking the total number of cases in Australia to eight
- A Chinese woman in Melbourne has been found to have the coronavirus
- She had been in Australia for a week and was showing symptoms for a few days
- Number of cases in Australia is now eight, with two more ill Aussies in China
A Chinese woman in Melbourne has been confirmed to have the coronavirus, taking the total number of cases in Australia to eight.
The woman, in her 40s, is visiting from China and was mostly spending time with her family and wasn’t out in public much, the Herald Sun reported.
She has been in Australia for about a week and had reportedly been showing symptoms for two or three days.
Daily life Wuhan,the Chinese city where the coronavirus is believed to have started earlier this month, and medical protection equipment is now in vogue
The woman is now being treated in isolation at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The total number of Australian cases is now eight, with three of those in Victoria, four in New South Wales and one in Queensland.
Two other Australians have been infected in China.
Meanwhile, concerns are growing over a Tiger Airlines domestic flight which an infected man boarded last week.
Authorities are seeking to track down passengers on board Flight TT566 from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, on January 27.
Australian authorities are trying to track down everyone who was on board a Tiger Airways flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on January 27, as an infected man was a passenger
The man came from Wuhan – the Chinese city at the epicentre of the virus outbreak – and flew in to Melbourne via Singapore on January 22.
He spent five days in the city before flying north to the Gold Coast, where he became increasingly unwell at his accommodation and called an ambulance.
He is in isolation in hospital.
Meanwhile, in New South Wales, authorities fear as many as 16 other Australians in New South Wales may have contracted the disease.
Four people there have been diagnosed with the disease, and two in Victoria.
The Federal government is planning to quarantine Australians evacuated from Wuhan on isolated Christmas Island.
The disease, which has killed at least 162 people around the world, is believed to have come from Wuhan, a city of 11 million people.
The virus is believed to have spread from the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market. Such ‘wet’ markets sell meat and seafood alongside live animals such as dogs, rats, snakes, civets and supposedly koalas.
The proximity of people to live and dead animals makes it easy for humans to contract viruses.
The SARS virus which broke out in 2003 also likely started in wet markets.
SARS was originally hosted by bats which infected other animals. Those animals transmitted SARS to humans.