Australia will begin screening passengers that land from Wuhan where a new deadly virus was discovered last month.
The new screening efforts will be in place at Sydney Airport where three direct flights from Wuhan land per week on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays.
When China Eastern Airlines flight MU749 lands on Thursday, passengers will be met by biosecurity staff from New South Wales Health and Border Force officials.
Passengers are expected to be screened with thermal imaging – but the method is not 100 per cent successful because people can harbour the virus with no symptoms for weeks.
It comes as US health authorities on Tuesday announced the first case of a person on American soil as millions of travellers prepare to take flights for Lunar New Year on Saturday.
Plane passengers in China are being screened after an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus
The virus, an as-yet unnamed variant of the coronavirus, was first detected in Wuhan, China last month but has now breached China’s borders
The man, a US resident in his 30s who lives near Seattle, is in good condition, according to federal and state officials.
The man is being ‘hospitalised out of an abundance of precaution, and for short term monitoring, not because there was severe illness,’ said Chris Spitters, a Washington state health official.
Last month doctors began seeing the new virus in people who got sick after spending time at a food market in Wuhan.
More than 275 cases of the newly identified coronavirus have been confirmed in China, most of them in Wuhan, according to the World Health Organization.
The count includes six deaths – all in China, most of them age 60 or older, including at least some who had a previous medical condition.
Doctors have said it probably spread from animals to people, but this week Chinese officials said they’ve concluded it also can spread from person to person.
There is one suspected case in Australia, with a man isolated at home in Brisbane for treatment.
Australia has raised its travel advice for China to level 2, telling people to exercise a high degree of caution.
Information will be displayed across all other points of entry into Australia to warn people who develop symptoms to seek urgent medical attention.
NSW Health announced on Tuesday evening it will assist commonwealth biosecurity staff at Sydney Airport to monitor those returning from Wuhan.
No cases of the novel coronavirus have been detected in NSW, the department said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) personnel using thermal scanners to screen passengers arriving on a flight from China’s Wuhan province
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said health officials are working with the federal government and other jurisdictions to monitor the situation in China.
‘Sydney is a popular destination for people travelling from China especially around the time of the Lunar New Year, so up-to-date health advice is paramount,’ Mr Hazzard said in a statement on Tuesday.
Health workers in the state’s public hospitals, as well as community-based GPs, have been given precautionary advice and the department has made novel coronavirus 2019 a notifiable disease under law.
NSW Health director of health protection Dr Jeremy McAnulty said advice is being given to people who may have already returned to the state from Wuhan, as symptoms may take up two weeks to develop.
These include a fever with respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, a cough or a sore throat.
‘There is no need for alarm, but people should be aware of the emerging situation and if they develop symptoms on returning from affected areas overseas, they should call ahead before seeing their GP,’ Dr McAnulty said in a statement on Tuesday.
‘This virus does not appear to spread easily between people, but anyone with symptoms should practise simple hygiene by covering their coughs and sneezes with a tissue or their elbow and washing their hands thoroughly.’
A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport