Aussies stranded in Wuhan are rescued by Qantas as second jet departs China and heads back to an mining camp in Darwin for quarantine

  • Qantas flight evacuating more than 250 people from Wuhan will land in Darwin 
  • Flight was intended to leave on Friday but did not get clearance to land in China
  • This is the third flight carrying Australians from the virus epicentre back home 
  • There have been 15 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia since outbreak

By Claudia Poposki For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press

Published: | Updated:

Hundreds of Australians left stranded in virus-stricken Wuhan are on board a second Qantas rescue flight set to land in an old mining camp north of Darwin on Sunday. 

The plane was originally scheduled to leave the coronavirus epicentre on Friday but did not get clearance to land from China and spent all of Saturday in Hong Kong.

'We continue to work constructively with Chinese authorities, and everything is on track for the flight later tonight,' Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement on Saturday night. 

More than 250 people are understood to be on the flight. 

More Australians from the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan in China are primed to enter quarantine at an old mining camp north of Darwin. Flight boarding in Wuhan

More Australians from the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan in China are primed to enter quarantine at an old mining camp north of Darwin. Flight boarding in Wuhan

A flight aimed at evacuating the Australian citizens and permanent residents from Wuhan has left China and will land in Darwin by 11.30am local time

A flight aimed at evacuating the Australian citizens and permanent residents from Wuhan has left China and will land in Darwin by 11.30am local time

The Australians will be sent to the Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, an old mining camp about 30km from Darwin, for a 14-day quarantine.

Evacuees were screened before they got on the flight, will be monitored rigorously on the plane and checked out again once they arrive in Darwin.

Anyone suspected to have coronavirus will be taken to hospital and quarantined.  

Professor Brendan Murphy, Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, said people staying at the facility were unlikely to become infectious.

When the Australians are extracted they will be sent to the Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, an old mining camp about 30km from Darwin. Pictured: Image of living facility uploaded by workers when the site was a mining camp

When the Australians are extracted they will be sent to the Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, an old mining camp about 30km from Darwin. Pictured: Image of living facility uploaded by workers when the site was a mining camp

'It is important people living in and around Howard Springs know the novel coronavirus can only be transmitted by close contact with an infectious person and cannot be spread through the air,' Professor Murphy said in a statement.

'The health and safety of the Howard Springs community is of paramount importance and I am confident the security and public health measures put in place will prevent any risk to the community's health.'

Christmas Island was unable to house another couple of hundred evacuees.

So far two groups of Australian citizens or permanent residents have been evacuated to Christmas Island, with 241 leaving on a Qantas flight and 35 departing on a later Air New Zealand flight.

They all face a two-week quarantine process. 

Evacuees were screened before they got on the flight, will be monitored rigorously on the plane and checked out again once they arrive in Darwin. Pictured: Image of living facility uploaded by workers when the site was a mining camp

Evacuees were screened before they got on the flight, will be monitored rigorously on the plane and checked out again once they arrive in Darwin. Pictured: Image of living facility uploaded by workers when the site was a mining camp

Australians are being taken to the old mining facility as Christmas Island does not have the capacity for more people. Pictured: Image of living facility uploaded by workers when the site was a mining camp

Australians are being taken to the old mining facility as Christmas Island does not have the capacity for more people. Pictured: Image of living facility uploaded by workers when the site was a mining camp

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly revealed on Saturday that one of the evacuees - a young Australian girl - had been tested for the virus after developing an illness.

But her sickness isn't serious and could be 'all sorts of things', he said.

'That person is well, it is certainly not a serious illness at this stage,' he told reporters.

Authorities have also just become aware of a third cruise ship, located somewhere between Japan and Guam, affected by coronavirus.

Professor Kelly said it wasn't known yet whether there are any Australians on board.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama, Japan, has 3,700 people on board - including 219 Australians who are well.

Two groups of Australian citizens or permanent residents have been evacuated to Christmas Island (pictured)

Two groups of Australian citizens or permanent residents have been evacuated to Christmas Island (pictured)

More than 300 people are on Christmas Island. Pictured: Australian evacuees board a bus after arriving at the airport on Christmas Island on Thursday

More than 300 people are on Christmas Island. Pictured: Australian evacuees board a bus after arriving at the airport on Christmas Island on Thursday

There are another seven Australians who are among 64 passengers to have tested positive to coronavirus on board the ship.

Another cruise ship at Hong Kong with coronavirus on board has 16 Australians, none of whom are ill.

Australia has so far had 15 confirmed coronavirus cases: five in Queensland, four each in NSW and Victoria and two in South Australia.

Five of the cases have recovered while the ten others are in a stable condition. 

All of the cases in Australia have come from Wuhan, the virus' epicentre, except for a person who contracted the disease after coming into contact with a person from Wuhan in China who had the illness.         

AUSTRALIANS WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

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: 6

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

    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: 15    

    • As of February 15, 47 Australians are among 219 confirmed cases of the coronavirus contracted on board Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama.
    • Two more Australians who were on board tested positive after they were evacuated to Darwin on February 22  
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