Australian Wuhan evacuees land on Christmas Island

Video Credit: Reuters Studio
Published on February 4, 2020 - Duration: 00:52s

Australian Wuhan evacuees land on Christmas Island

Australians evacuated from China's Wuhan city arrived in the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island on Tuesday (February 4), where they will be quarantined to prevent the spread of a new flu-like coronavirus.


Australian Wuhan evacuees land on Christmas Island

Some 241 passengers on the initial flight will be quarantined for two weeks on the remote Australia-run island, about 1,400 km (870 miles) northwest of mainland Australia.

A Qantas Airways flight carrying the evacuees and Department of Health officials landed at a military airbase north of Perth, where passengers were transferred to two smaller planes for the flight to Christmas Island.

Australia has said it plans to keep evacuees on Christmas Island for two weeks, the maximum incubation period of the newly identified virus which has sparked a global health emergency and killed more than 400 people in China, mostly in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.

There were 600 Australians registered in the Hubei region as of last week and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday a second evacuation flight may be arranged.

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Video credit: Reuters Studio - Published on February 4, 2020 

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