There are now four confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia.
Three patients in New South Wales and one in Victoria have caught the deadly disease which originated in Wuhan, China.
The patient in Victoria is a Chinese national aged in his 50s, who flew to Melbourne on China Southern Airlines from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
He has since become the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Australia and is now in quarantined isolation in a Melbourne hospital.
Two men, one in his 30s and one in his 50s, are being treated in New South Wales.
The age of the fourth victim has not been confirmed. Earlier on Saturday a baby was rushed from Sydney Airport to hospital for testing.
The federal government has stepped up measures to protect Australians from the the deadly coronavirus virus after the first case in Australia was confirmed (stock image)
The deadly virus has already claimed 41 lives in China and is expected to rise
With a dozen more people being tested in Australia, authorities expected more people will be struck down with the dangerous virus in coming weeks as it threatens to become a global pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison released a statement on Saturday afternoon to authorities are now tracking down all passengers on the same flight as the affected passengers and anyone he was been in contact since.
The man arrived on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 from Guangzhou, which arrived at Melbourne’s Tullaramine Airport around 9.25am on January 19.
The plane he arrived on, an A380, carries more than 500 people.
He also announced the federal government has stepped up measures to protect Australians from the virus, along with a dire warning to not travel to China’s Wuhan or Hubei provinces.
‘From today (Saturday), anyone arriving in Australia on flights from other parts of China will be met and provided instruction on what to do it they have symptoms it start to develop them,’ Mr Morrison’s statement read.
‘Chinese authorities have also imposed travel restriction sin at least five cities in the Hubei province.
‘Australians travelling to these areas may not be able to leave until restrictions are lifted.
Mr Morrison added the federal government will continue to monitor the situation and take action when necessary.
In Melbourne, many CBD pharmacies are running out of protective face masks, which were already in huge demand due to the toxic haze from the state’s bushfires that blanketing the city.
‘I have been to nine pharmacies already, they’re all out of them,’ a Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology student originally from Shanghai told Reuters.
‘And I need them, we all need them.’
However, health officials say the masks are not recommended.
‘Face masks are not recommended for use by members of the public in Victoria for the prevention of infections like novel coronavirus,’ the Victoria health department said in a statement.
Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told reporters on Saturday that the infected patient had been in Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – for two weeks by himself.
A passenger wearing a protective mask (pictured) is seen at Sydney Airport on Thursday, as a man in Melbourne is confirmed as the first Australian case of coronavirus
‘He was confirmed as positive after a series of tests early this morning,’ Ms Mikakos said on Saturday.
Ms Mikakos said it was ‘possible’ the man wasn’t contagious while on board as he didn’t start showing symptoms until after arriving in Melbourne.
‘We are now in the process of making contact with all the other passengers [on the flight],’ she said.
‘It is important to stress that there is no cause for alarm to the community.
In Queensland six people – including three from the Gold Coast – were being assessed for the virus, five of whom have no been given the all-clear.
Of six people being assessed in NSW, two are ‘probable’ cases, the state’s health authority confirmed on Saturday.
Two ‘probable’ cases of novel coronavirus have been confirmed in NSW
A pamphlet handed out by the Australian Government providing travellers with information on the deadly coronavirus (pictured)
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the two men, aged between 30 and 60, were not particularly unwell but were being kept in hospital.
Both had travelled to China recently.
‘As far as I know, they were not on the same flight,’ Dr Chand said.
‘The risk of transmission is still very, very low. But we felt it was prudent to take this precautionary approach.’
They are two of six people being assessed in NSW, with two others cleared on Friday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade overnight raised the level of travel advice for Wuhan and Hubei province to ‘do not travel’.
The disease is listed as having ‘pandemic potential’, allowing border measures to be enhanced.
‘The confirmation today by Victorian authorities of the coronavirus case was a matter that had been anticipated,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘The Australian government is of course taking this issue incredibly seriously.’
There are more than 900 cases worldwide, with two cases confirmed in France, two in America and now one in Australia
Passengers arriving on all flights from China are being stopped and given health information about the virus, its symptoms and what to do if they become unwell.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said it was important for people arriving from Wuhan – and those in close contact with them – to monitor for symptoms including fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting and difficulty breathing.
Experts are still learning about the virus.
‘We don’t know exactly how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected but there is an incubation period and some patients will have very mild symptoms,’ Prof Murphy said.
China has confirmed 41 deaths from the virus, while more than 1,000 people are now estimated to have been affected worldwide. Cases have been confirmed in 10 countries.
Patients with the novel coronavirus (pictured) typically have a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia
Wuhan is a city of 11 million people which has been the epicentre of the outbreak. It is now treating dozens of patients (pictured)
‘We’re confident that outside the major epicentre of China there is not yet evidence of significant, or any, human to human spread,’ Prof Murphy said.
Federal and state chief medical officers held joint discussions on Saturday with health ministers expected to do the same.
Prime Minister Morrison said the confirmation of a case in Australia had been anticipated and procedures are in place to manage the situation.
‘I’d urge Australians to go about their day, go about their business in the knowledge that the professionals and the experts are there to provide the support that is needed in times like this are on the job and they’re getting about it to keep you and your families safe,’ he said.
The infected man has pneumonia and is in a stable condition, being treated in a negative pressure isolation room.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Angie Bone said the man felt tired after landing in Melbourne, before he started feeling ill later that day.
He then presented himself to a doctor on Thursday, four days after arriving in Australia.
‘My understanding is he came off the plane and felt very tired and spent the next day resting in his room, towards the end of the day he developed symptoms,’ Dr Bone said.
There is said to be little risk of him spreading the deadly virus in Melbourne, as he spent the last week with family and hasn’t visited any public places since being in Australia.
‘He stayed in his room as he was conscious he may have caught the disease, so his family didn’t allow anyone in his room,’ Dr Bone said.
Medical staff work in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Wuhan (pictured) have been working round the clock
‘He has not been out and about, so I guess that minimises the risk to the broader community and he has taken all the appropriate precautions in terms of calling ahead to the GP clinic and to the hospital before he has presented on both of those occasions.
‘So, he has done everything right. The family has done everything right to minimise the risk.
‘There is a possibility the family may have caught the infection, we will be observing them very closely. It will help us understand how easy it is to transmit this virus.’
Dr Bone said the man wasn’t a health care worker and may well have picked up the disease in a public setting.
France has confirmed two coronavirus cases, the first in Europe. Despite prevention measures such as sanitation being done in South Korea (pictured), the virus continues to spread globally
‘There’s no evidence of human to human transmission here [in Australia]. It will be very hard to be specific about where people catch it from,’ she said.
Transportation in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and at least 12 nearby cities has been shut down, effectively placing 36 million people into lockdown.
So far more than 850 people have been infected in China while France has had three people test positive – the disease’s first appearance in Europe.
Two cases, including a Chicago woman returning from China, have been confirmed in the United States.