Professor Vasso Apostolopoulos has praised federal government plans to bring Australians from Wuhan to Christmas Island for a two-week quarantine period but has has maintained her call for a complete travel ban with China until the coronavirus outbreak is brought under control but.
Prof Apostolopoulos, who is the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Partnerships, at Victoria University, said that while the travel ban would hurt economically, it would be far more costly to Australia were the virus to get out of control here.
To date there have been nine reports of people infected with the virus (also known as novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV) in Australia.
As of Friday four cases of coronavirus have been reported in New South Wales, two cases in Queensland and three in Victoria. More than 200 people have been tested nationwide.
“If I come into the country with a bag of nuts I can get arrested. Animals brought into the country are put under quarantine. Yet for this virus which could get out of control we are told to ‘keep calm’,” said Prof Apostolopoulos.
But she praised federal government plans announced on Wednesday to airlift Australians who are in China’s Hubei Province, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, to Christmas Island where they will be in quarantine for two weeks.
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“If they stay where they are, they have more chance of being infected. Placing them in quarantine on Christmas Island is an excellent idea. It is a difficult situation.”
Wednesday’s joint media release announcing the assisted departure of the Australians from Hubei Province stated that the focus would be on “vulnerable and isolated citizens.” There are reported to be up to 600 Australians in the Wuhan region of which 140 are children.
It said that a consular team will be in place to help with departure from Wuhan and a temporary consular office was being set up in the city to work with local authorities to “give effect to the plan”.
Prof Apostolopoulos said that the Peter Doherty’s Institute’s breakthrough in replicating the coronavirus in laboratory conditions was a major step in dealing with the outbreak. The discovery would help to formulate a vaccine sooner and speed up the detection of the virus, ultimately helping to contain it.
“It is going to be a difficult next few months,” she said. “We need to be cautious and we need to do something about people coming into the country. We need to do it for a month. I know it affects the economy but what is the choice?”
Meanwhile airlines around the world, including British Airways, have suspended or reduced services to mainland China because of the virus.
The professor said wearing a face mask and washing hands regularly were some of the measures that would help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
