Two patients with coronavirus has been released in New South Wales as seven people remain hospitalised around Australia.
The patients, who were treated at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, were deemed to have safely recovered and are no longer infectious.
Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed they were released in a press conference on Friday afternoon – as he ruled out banning flights from China to Australia.
Thousands of people could have been exposed to coronavirus in Australia by the country’s nine confirmed patients alone
He said: ‘We still have two in New South Wales that are being treated here at Westmead Hospital. The other two that were being housed here have been released after it was determined that they were medically clear to go home.’
Mr Hunt also said that preparations were under way on Christmas Island to prepare it to house Australian citizens who request to be evacuated from Wuhan.
‘I have spoken with the director of the National Critical Care and Trauma Centre this morning and he has confirmed they have a team of 24 and the first members of those will arrive today,’ he said.
Ministers do not yet know when Australians can be evacuated from China because negotiations are still ongoing with Beijing.
Thousands of people could have been exposed to the coronavirus in Australia by the country’s nine confirmed patients alone – as up to 49,000 people land on flights from China per week and a global health emergency is declared.
Four people in Sydney, three in Melbourne, and two on the Gold Coast have been struck down with the deadly virus in recent weeks.
Each one flew in from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began, on planes packed with hundreds of potential victims.
At least a day passed after they arrived before they developed flu-like symptoms and eventually went to hospital.
A passenger wearing a protective mask (pictured) is seen at Sydney Airport on Thursday, getting off the last flight to Australia from Wuhan before they were shut down
During this time when they didn’t know they were sick, they interacted with hundreds of people each, some of whom could now be infected.
One patient was even allowed out of isolation to celebrate Australia Day at a restaurant with his family while he was waiting for test results.
People they infected will be going about their lives on crowded trains and buses, having business meetings, and sharing meals – potentially passing the virus on.
This is just from the nine confirmed cases – more than a dozen other people are being tested after developing symptoms associated with the virus.
It comes as China’s coronavirus death toll hits 170 and the World Health Organisation declares a global health emergency.
Speaking to reporters, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: ‘The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries.
‘Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it.’
Russia, which has no cases of the virus, is closing its 2,600-mile border with China, joining Mongolia and North Korea in barring crossings to guard against the outbreak.
Train traffic between the countries was halted except for one train connecting Moscow and Beijing, but air traffic between the two countries continued.
On Thursday Israel banned all incoming flights from China and 6,000 people in Italy were prevented from leaving a cruise ship while tests were carried out on a passenger from Macau.
Australia and New Zealand are planning a joint evacuation of citizens from Wuhan while Singapore is setting up a quarantine facility on an island to the city’s north-east.
Meanwhile, the United States and South Korea confirmed their first cases of person-to-person spread of the virus.
The man in the US is married to a 60-year-old Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from a trip to Wuhan, the Chinese city that is the epicentre of the outbreak.
Shoppers cover their faces with masks at Asian markets in Cabramatta in Sydney’s southwest on Thursday out of fear of coronavirus
A pamphlet handed out by the Australian Government providing travellers with information on the deadly coronavirus (pictured)
In Australia, the first men were confirmed to be infected with coronavirus on January 25 – three in NSW and another in Victoria.
Two arrived on direct flights from Wuhan to Sydney on separate China Eastern Airlines flight MU749, one on January 20 and another on an unknown date.
Both these flights had up to 250 passengers plus several crew on board who are prime candidates for infection.
Another man, diagnosed on the same day, flew in to Sydney via Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, on January 6 on a plane that carries up to 277 people.
The fourth arrived in Melbourne from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19 on a an A388 carrying up to 525 passengers.
A total of 167 flights that can carry 48,999 people are landing in Australia from mainland China per week as coronavirus spreads around the world.
Based on those figures, as many as 342,993 people may have entered Australia from China since the deadly virus was first detected in Wuhan seven weeks ago.
On Thursday, major airlines suspended or reduced services to China including British Airways, Lufthansa, American Airlines, KLM, and United.
But the airlines that fly from China to Australia – including eight Chinese airlines and Qantas – made no changes to their routes, except for China Eastern cancelling its flight from Wuhan to Sydney last week.
The flights include 62 planes from Guangzhou, 42 from Shanghai and 18 from Beijing per week, with direct routes to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin.
On Wednesday, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline was considering scrapping its Sydney to Beijing route due to low demand.
The airline had already announced plans to axe that service from March, but Mr Joyce suggested that could happen sooner.
NSW Health advice states that people are at risk of catching the virus if they spent 15 minutes in close contact, such as a face-to-face conversation, or two hours in the same confined space.
Chinese health authorities have confirmed that, contrary to earlier belief, patients are contagious even before they develop symptoms.
On Monday, it was confirmed that a 21-year-old University of NSW student who arrived on a different MU749 flight was infected.
The university told students in an email that she became unwell soon after her flight and isolated herself in her on-campus dorm room for 24 hours before going to hospital.
UNSW is not in semester but there are still some students and staff on campus she could have interacted with, along with on public transport and at the airport.
Many students are terrified they could be infected next, especially with thousands of Chinese classmates due to arrive on campus in coming weeks.
The second Melbourne patient landed on January 21, though it is not clear which flight he was on, and wasn’t diagnosed until Wednesday.
The man in his 60s went to hospital two days later but was allowed out of isolation to celebrate Australia Day with his family.
He was with five family members – three adults and two children – at The House of Delight in Glen Waverley between 5.30pm and 7pm.
Victoria’s chief health officer Dr Brett Sutton urged other diners to contact the health department and watch for coronavirus symptoms.
Other businesses in the same building as the restaurant on 52 Montclair Avenue have closed until February 9 and others are thinking about shutting up shop.
A cleaner was brought in to disinfect buttons in the building’s lift.
One of the patient’s adult relatives and one of the children have tested negative so far, and all five are in isolation with him.
The seventh victim has the most capacity to have infected hundreds of others.
The 44-year-old Chinese tourist arrived in Melbourne from Wuhan via Singapore on January 22 and spent several days travelling with a tour group.
On Thursday night it was confirmed that one of them, a 42-year-old woman, contracted the virus herself, while three others were sick.
All eight of his fellow holidaymakers are now in isolation with him at Gold Coast University Hospital.
They all took Tiger Air flight TT566, landing on the Gold Coast about 8pm on Monday on a plane that carries up to 189 passengersQueensland Health chief officer Dr Jeannette Young on Thursday said she was concerned about everyone on the plane.