Qantas reveals the EXTREME measures it will take to make coronavirus evacuation planes safe for regular passengers to use again
- Everything except what was bolted to the floor and ceiling will be destroyed
- Pillows, blankets, magazines and headphones were quarantined and disposed of
- The entire aircraft cabin was sprayed twice with hospital-grade disinfectant
- Up to 100 Australians still remain in Wuhan
Everything not bolted to the floor and ceiling of the Qantas aircraft used to carry Australians out of Wuhan will be destroyed for the safety of future passengers.
The second evacuation plane landed in Darwin, Northern Territory, on Sunday with 266 ‘clinically well’ passengers on board after a day-long stopover in Hong Kong.
A further 243 Australians who were on the first rescue flight from Wuhan are almost halfway through a 14-day quarantine on Christmas Island after landing on Tuesday.
Although no passengers showed signs of the deadly virus, Qantas took extreme measures to quarantine the Boeing 747-400 after the Tuesday flight.
The Qantas flight left the Chinese coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan early Sunday morning
‘Rubbish and items in the cabin like pillows, blankets, magazines and headphones were removed and disposed of through quarantine. These items were replaced with brand new items,’ a Qantas spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The entire aircraft cabin was sprayed twice with hospital-grade disinfectant which kills the coronavirus.’
‘This includes all seats, floors, arm rests, tray tables, overhead luggage bins and walls.’
During the flight, the air in the cabin was replaced every three-to-five minutes with HEPA filters – also used in hospital operating theatres.
All filters were destroyed after the flight and refitted with new ones.
The rigorous cleaning process will be repeated for the items on board the Sunday flight.
Passengers wear protective face masks as they arrive from Shenzhen to Hong Kong
The spokeswoman said the cleaning efforts went above and beyond the policies introduced after the SARS crisis in 2003 for planes returning from affected areas.
More than 90 children were among the evacuees who arrived on Sunday.
After undergoing four health screenings that confirmed all passengers were ‘physically well’, they were sent to the Manigurr-ma Village, a former mining camp at Howard Springs, 30km from Darwin.
Evacuees who arrived in Darwin on Sunday (pictured) were transported to Howard Springs, where they will spend the next fortnight in quarantine
The evacuees were initially expected to be quarantined on Christmas Island but were redirected to Darwin because the island facility was unable to accommodate another couple of hundred people.
Up to 100 Australians still remain in Wuhan.
There are growing calls for the federal government to put on a third evacuation flight after many of those trapped missed out on selection for the Sunday flight.