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Hundreds Of Australians Stranded In Coronavirus Ground Zero Will Be Airlifted To Safety

Hundreds Of Australians Stranded In Coronavirus Ground Zero Will Be Airlifted To Safety

They'll be taken to the Christmas Island Detention Centre.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Hundreds of Australians, who have been stranded in a Chinese area dubbed coronavirus ground zero, will be airlifted to safety.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared that those who have been unable to leave Wuhan will be taken to the Christmas Island detention centre.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has identified at least 600 people in region who have been unable to leave after Chinese authorities introduced a quarantine to stop the spread of the potentially deadly virus.

ABC

Mr Morrison told reporters at a press conference: "We are dealing with a number of Australians who have been there and we have to go through the process of identifying those who are most vulnerable and who are most isolated.

"My first priority right now is the safety of Australians...to ensure that we are doing everything consistent with the advice and acting with an abundance of caution to protect their wellbeing, but also for those Australians who have found themselves isolated and vulnerable as a result of this crisis."

The people who will be evacuated first will be those who are most vulnerable.

PA

Once at the detention centre, the evacuees will be quarantined from the only other residents, the family from Biloela, Queensland.

Travel advice for Australians thinking of going to China has been updated, warning citizens to reconsider their need to travel to the country.

Chinese authorities have been working around the clock to prevent the spread of the disease, which has so far killed dozens and thousands more have become infected.

The first of the country's emergency medical centres has opened after just 48 hours of construction.

Workers and volunteers in Huanggang City managed to put the work in to get the doors open on the Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre, which will provide treatment for around 1,000 patients, in just 48 hours.

This facility, one of four emergency treatment bases being established by the authorities, was converted from an empty building.

The other facilities in nearby Wuhan - the epicentre of the viral outbreak - are being built from the ground up in a method similar to that used to combat the SARS outbreak of 2003.

The Huanggang City authorities said that the work that was completed so quickly was thanks to the combined efforts of construction staff, paramilitary police officers, and utility companies.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia