SYDNEY—Australia on Saturday barred foreign nationals who have been in mainland China from entering the country, and ordered its own returning citizens to self-quarantine for 14 days, as the impact of the new coronavirus on world-wide travel spreads.
The U.S. a day earlier imposed entry restrictions on foreign nationals and quarantines on Americans returning from Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak.
Australia’s national airline, Qantas, said earlier Saturday that it would suspend flights to mainland China from Feb. 9., joining major U.S. airlines, including American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc., and other international carriers, including British Airways and Indonesia’s Lion Air. Air New Zealand said Saturday it would suspend its Auckland-Shanghai service from Feb. 9. Pakistan, a close Chinese ally, also banned commercial travel to the mainland on Friday. Italy on Thursday banned flights to mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Australia also raised its travel advice to Australians for all of mainland China to “Do Not Travel.” Any foreign nationals who ignore the prohibition and arrive in Australia, and who choose not to immediately return to their port of origin, will be subject to mandatory quarantine, the government said.
“We have not taken any of these decisions lightly,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Saturday. “The changing epidemiology of the coronavirus in China and the uncertainty that remains around its transmission and virulence, mean the utmost precaution is warranted.”
The number of people infected in China approached 12,000 as the death toll from the pneumonia-causing virus rose to 259 as of late Friday, according to China’s National Health Commission.
Australia faces an especially awkward balancing act because its economy relies heavily on Chinese demand for education, tourism and its resource exports.
The virus’s outbreak coincides with the start of the school year in Australia after a long summer break and the country’s schools and universities are scrambling to offer online tuition or deferred start dates to Chinese students.
The prime minister said the prohibition on foreign nationals entering Australia for 14 days from the time they have left or transited through mainland China is a “temporary measure” and will be reviewed in two weeks.
“I want to assure Australians that we are doing everything we can, through these increased actions, to protect Australians and keep them safe from what is an escalating threat,” he said in a joint statement with the country’s health, home affairs and foreign ministers.
Australia said on Wednesday it would try to pull out citizens stuck in Wuhan, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus outbreak, and quarantine them in an immigration detention center on a remote island nearly 1,000 miles off its coast, in one of the most extreme isolation measures undertaken by governments outside China so far to limit the virus’ spread. Government officials said Saturday they expect the evacuation process to be set up soon.
Qantas said earlier Saturday that it was suspending flights to the mainland as the virus’s spread hampers its ability to staff the Sydney-to-Beijing and Sydney-to-Shanghai routes.
“In selecting a date to suspend services Qantas is working to balance high passenger numbers in both directions—including Australian residents wanting to return home from China—with the various travel restrictions being applied,” the airline said in a statement Saturday.
Entry restrictions imposed by countries including Singapore and the U.S. had impacted the movement of crew who work across the Qantas International network, the airline said.
The Australian carrier said its suspension could start earlier, if necessary, and would remain in place until at least March 29. There is no change to its service to Hong Kong.
American halted flights as of Friday. Delta and United said they would stop flights next week, to accommodate customers planning to leave China. The carriers expected to maintain the suspension through early spring.
Qantas had been due to end its Sydney-to-Beijing service on Feb. 23 for commercial reasons.