Coronavirus: Australia to bar foreign nationals arriving from Iran

Foreigners travelling from Iran to Australia will need to spend 14 days in another country from March 1, the health minister says
A 63-year-old woman returning from Iran tested positive on Saturday, becoming the country’s 25th case

Coronavirus pandemic

ReutersandThe New Zealand Herald

Published: 3:54pm, 29 Feb 2020

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Australia will deny entry to all foreign nationals arriving from Iran due to the escalating outbreak of coronavirus in the Islamic republic, the government said on Saturday.

Foreign nationals travelling from Iran to Australia would need to spend 14 days in another country from March 1, Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

“There is likely at this stage a high level of undetected cases and therefore those cases won’t be intercepted or identified on departure from Iran,” Hunt said.

Australian citizens and permanent residents returning from Iran would be required to self-isolate for 14 days and the travel advice for Australians travelling to Iran has been raised to “do not travel”.

Health authorities on Saturday confirmed the number of cases of coronavirus in Australia was 25 after a 63-year-old woman returning from Iran became ill.

Iran has the highest death toll from the flu-like virus outside China at 34, although World Health Organisation (WHO) experts say the outbreak in the country could be worse than is currently known.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus has fuelled fears of a pandemic, with multiple countries reporting their first cases this week as the WHO raised its global risk alert to “very high”.

How Iran’s coronavirus death toll came to be the highest behind only China

Australia’s neighbour, New Zealand, earlier this week also announced it would bar travellers arriving from Iran.

The country’s first coronavirus case, reported on Friday, sparked a wave of panic buying, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to call for calm.

A 60-year-old passenger who arrived at Auckland Airport on Emirates Flight EK450 from Iran, via Bali, on Wednesday with a cough and difficulty breathing. She later tested positive for the virus.

PM Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister David Clark meet staff at the Healthline office in Auckland, the day after a first case of coronavirus was confirmed in New Zealand. Photo: NZ Herald

Panicked shoppers forced the closure of a major food wholesaler in Auckland on Saturday.

At other supermarkets across Auckland, queues trailed out the door and shelves were stripped of essentials like toilet paper and water. Hand sanitiser has been unavailable at supermarkets for days due to the coronavirus scare.

A shopper at a Pak’nSave supermarket said it was as if people were “stocking up for the apocalypse”.

New Zealander who travelled from Iran is country’s first coronavirus case

Ardern on Saturday urged the country to remain calm, saying: “If you need a bottle of milk, go and get it. If you don’t, do not react in any other way than you would any other day.”

The Director General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield, reinforced the importance of taking basic precautions, everyone playing their part and not alienating groups or communities.

This was a good time for New Zealand to prepare, not panic, he said.

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