A Chinese mother has been granted an exemption from Australia ’s coronavirus travel ban to say her final goodbyes to her dying son in a Melbourne hospital. Xiao Li was declared brain dead at the Royal Melbourne Hospital earlier this week after his car collided with a truck in Gippsland, rural Victoria state on January 27. The 22-year-old had been working on farms in Queensland and Victoria since arriving in Australia on a working holiday visa a year ago. Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge announced on Friday that Li’s mother, Xing Lang Ren, would be allowed to visit Australia to say goodbye before doctors removed her son’s life support. Ren had applied for a fast-track tourist visa to see her son less than 72 hours before the introduction of restrictions on travel from China on February 1 . “I’m pleased to confirm that the mother of Xiao Li has been granted a visa to Australia,” said Tudge. “The government will work with her during this extremely difficult time and to ensure she can see her son as quickly as possible without putting the Australian public at any risk.” Tudge said officials were working with Ren, who lives in Qingdao, Shandong province, to arrange her travel to Australia as soon as possible. A friend of Li, Angus Yuan, had earlier appeared on ABC radio to plead with the government to “give his mother hope to see her son for the last time”. An online petition calling for a waiver for Li’s mother also attracted more than 3,000 signatures. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on February 1 announced a ban on the entry of non-citizens, excluding permanent residents and their immediate family members, who had travelled in mainland China during the last 14 days. Authorities have indicated that the ban, which will be reviewed on February 15, is likely to be extended. The deadly new coronavirus , which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has claimed 638 lives and infected more than 31,000 people so far, most of them in mainland China. Australia has confirmed 15 cases of the virus, with authorities testing another 165 people with symptoms of infection. All but one of the cases involve people who had been to Wuhan. Meanwhile, a government chartered flight was expected to land in Wuhan on Friday evening to evacuate Australian citizens and permanent residents from the epicentre of the outbreak. The arrivals will be placed in quarantine for 14 days at a mining camp outside Darwin in the remote Northern Territory. Earlier this week, the first chartered flight carrying Australians out of Wuhan arrived on Christmas Island, an isolated Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, where several hundred people have been quarantined.