How a coronavirus pandemic would force closure of schools, ban on sporting matches in Australia

Schools would be closed and mass public gatherings would be banned if the coronavirus escalated into a pandemic, infectious diseases experts say. 

Instead of commuting, Australians would also be made to work from home.

Hospitals would also struggle to cope with an influx of patients – with modelling predicting a massive shortfall of ‘coronavirus beds’.

In a worst-case scenario, Professor Raina MacIntyre – the head of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales Kirby Institute – said that mass gatherings like sporting events and concerts would be banned as children stayed home from school.

 

Schools would be closed and mass public gatherings would be banned if the coronavirus escalated into a pandemic, infectious diseases experts say

Measures to deal with a coronavirus pandemic

School closures

Workplace closures

Mass gatherings cancelled

Voluntary quarantining

Source: Federal Department of Heath’s Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza, May 2019

‘Closure of schools will be standard measures but may be implemented differently in different states,’ she told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has flagged the possible cancellation of sporting events like AFL and rugby league games.

‘The possibility is always there, but that is a last resort,’ he told reporters. 

Offices would also be empty, with the federal government’s pandemic plan recommending workplace closures.

‘Businesses should start planning working from home arrangements,’ Professor MacIntyre said.

The infectious diseases researcher also feared hospitals would be overwhelmed, forcing the postponement of elective surgery and an expansion of intensive care units.

She has released modelling showing tens of thousands of intensive care beds would be needed to cope. 

Professor Raina MacIntyre, the head of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales Kirby Institute, said that in a worst-case scenario, mass gatherings like sporting events and concerts would be banned as children stayed home from school

Professor Raina MacIntyre, the head of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales Kirby Institute, said that in a worst-case scenario, mass gatherings like sporting events and concerts would be banned as children stayed home from school

Professor Raina MacIntyre, the head of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales Kirby Institute has also released modelling showing a massive shortfall in 'coronavirus beds'

Professor Raina MacIntyre, the head of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales Kirby Institute has also released modelling showing a massive shortfall in ‘coronavirus beds’

‘The health system would need surge capacity, and fallback plans if needs cannot be met with existing beds and resources,’ Professor MacIntyre said.

‘If hospital beds run short, asking people with mild infection to stay home would be reasonable.

‘We would likely see elective surgery delayed or rescheduled and reprioritisation of acute care.’

Health authorities in every state are on high alert after the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned coronavirus was worse than first feared.

‘Current global circumstances suggest it’s likely this virus will cause a pandemic,’ the government agency’s principal deputy director Dr Anne Schuchat told reporters on Tuesday night.

Should a pandemic occur, Australia’s federal Department of Health warned hospitals were likely to be overrun.

‘Demand on primary health care will also increase, exacerbated by the need to attend to patients affected by the changes in availability of services at hospitals,’ it said last year in its Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza.

A coronavirus pandemic would also require measures to prevent diseases outbreaks in aged care homes and prisons. 

Health Minister Greg Hunt has flagged the possible cancellation of sporting events, like AFL and rugby league games. Pictured are AFL Hawthorn Hawks supporters in Melbourne

Health Minister Greg Hunt has flagged the possible cancellation of sporting events, like AFL and rugby league games. Pictured are AFL Hawthorn Hawks supporters in Melbourne

Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has infected 80,000 worldwide since it originated in December at an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

This includes 23 people now in Australia, as of Wednesday.

Then there are another seven Australians who were flown from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama in Japan to a quarantine centre near Darwin, where they tested positive.

Coronavirus has killed more than 2,600 people globally and can cause severe lung damage and trigger multiple organ failure, particularly among the elderly or frail.

Australia is still in the containment stage of coronavirus, with most cases of contagion still occurring in China.

Professor Sharon Lewin, the director of the University of Melbourne’s Doherty Institute, said a pandemic occurred when ‘there’s sustained human-to-human transmission in multiple countries’. 

Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has infected 80,000 worldwide since it originated in December at an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. This includes 23 people now in Australia, as of Wednesday.

Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has infected 80,000 worldwide since it originated in December at an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. This includes 23 people now in Australia, as of Wednesday.

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES: 4  

January 25

  • Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have 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 take 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 has been diagnosed coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from    

February 5  

  • The case was found in a 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast

February 6

  • A 37-year-old woman has been 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 tests 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 has been 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

JAPAN/DARWIN: 22    

  • 15 Australians were among 219 confirmed cases of the coronavirus contracted on board Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama. 
  • Seven passengers who were on board the Diamond Princess then tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at the Manigurr-ma Village Howard Springs facility in Darwin

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