Coronavirus travel ban is LIFTED as thousands of school students are allowed to go back to class 

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Coronavirus travel ban is LIFTED as thousands of school students are allowed to go back to class on a ‘strict pathway’ after being stuck in China

  • There are 760 final year students enrolled in Australian schools trapped in China
  • The Australian government said they lift the travel ban for them on Saturday 
  • Students will be offered a ‘strict pathway’ to start their year 11 and year 12 studies
  • The trapped students have already missed three weeks of the first school term  

By Shive Prema For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

The coronavirus travel ban for senior high school students from China has been lifted as thousands of pupils return to class. 

There are 400 Year 12 students and 360 Year 11 students enrolled in Australian schools who are trapped in China due to travel restrictions. 

Health Minister Greg Hunt announced that some of the 760 students would be allowed to return to school in Australia on a ‘case-by-case basis’ on Saturday.  

‘In particular, that should include consideration of year 11 and 12 secondary school students from mainland China, excluding Hubei,’ Mr Hunt told reporters in Melbourne. 

‘Coronavirus has been contained in Australia with no new cases in the general population in the last week.’  

Hubei province has been excluded as it is where the outbreak city of Wuhan is located, meaning there is a higher risk of coronavirus.  

Health Minister Greg Hunt announced that some of the 760 students trapped in China would be allowed to return to school in Australia on a ‘case-by-case basis’ on Saturday 

The trapped students have already missed three weeks of school as the the first school term of the year began in late January and early February across the country.  

Once in Australia, they will have to follow ‘the same strict isolation conditions that apply to Australian citizens and permanent residents who return from China’. 

This means that they will have to spend another two weeks at home in isolation at home, further delaying their return to school. 

In total, some students could miss five or six weeks of school – half of the first term. 

All states and territories have strict school attendance requirements, which mean students may not be able to complete their secondary qualifications if they miss too many days of education. 

In a statement, the Australian government stated it recognises ‘the importance of the final two years of school’, which is why the ban was lifted on senior students. 

‘All Australian governments understand the importance of education and we are all working to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on students,’ the statement read. 

A family wearing face masks to protect themselves from coronavirus arrive in Brisbane Airport. There are 400 Year 12 students and 360 Year 11 students enrolled in Australian schools who are trapped in China due to travel restrictions

A family wearing face masks to protect themselves from coronavirus arrive in Brisbane Airport. There are 400 Year 12 students and 360 Year 11 students enrolled in Australian schools who are trapped in China due to travel restrictions

While students have been granted an exception, the Australian government has also extended its ban on foreign travellers from China for another week on Saturday. 

The ban is due to end on February 29 but is under ongoing consideration from the national security committee of cabinet. 

Two universities are offering cash incentives to Chinese students to encourage them to keep up their studies despite not being allowed into Australia. 

The University of Adelaide  is offering a care package worth about $5,000 to about 3,000 Chinese students.

The package includes a 20 per cent discount on semester one tuition fees and up to $2,000 towards airfares which they can access only once the travel ban is lifted. 

It also offered online study help including videos of lectures, peer networking support and library resources so Chinese students who cannot be on campus by the March 26 start date, so can keep up with their courses remotely. 

The trapped students have already missed three weeks of school as the the first school term of the year began in late January and early February across the country

The trapped students have already missed three weeks of school as the the first school term of the year began in late January and early February across the country

By contrast, Western Sydney University encouraged its students to dodge the travel ban by paying Chinese students up to $1500 to subside the cost of airfares and accommodation to reach Australia ‘through a third country’.

About 100,000 Chinese students are enrolled in Australia’s universities providing a large source of profits each year for the $36 billion education-selling industry. 

On Saturday, two more Australians were diagnosed with the coronavirus after being evacuated to Darwin from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. 

There have been 19 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia. 

Internationally, there have been 75,751 coronavirus cases and 2,121 deaths. 

AUSTRALIANS WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

NEW SOUTH WALES: 4 

January 25

  • Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have contracted the disease.
  • Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
  • They are being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital and are in stable condition.

January 27 

  • A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.
  • The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.
  • She is being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital.

VICTORIA: 6

January 25

  • A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.
  • The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
  • He is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne’s east.

January 29

  • A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.
  • He became unwell on January 23 – two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. 
  •  The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre. He was assessed as being well enough to stay at home.

January 30

  • A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus. 
  •  She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.
  • She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital.          

February 1

  • A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus 

 February 22  

  • Two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive

QUEENSLAND: 5

January 29

  • Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national wass diagnosed with the virus.
  • He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.

January 30

  • A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.  

February 4

  • An eight-year-old boy has been diagnosed coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from    

February 5  

  • The case was found in a 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast

February 6

  • A 37-year-old woman has been diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 2

February 1

  • A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.

CHINA: 2

January 30

  • Two Australians have been confirmed as having the virus in Wuhan itself. Australia has raised the travel alert level to ‘do not travel’ for the city of Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – and for the entire Hubei province.
  • Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says unless people have contact with someone who is unwell and has come from that part of China, there is no need for current concern. 

JAPAN: 15    

  • As of February 15, 47 Australians are among 219 confirmed cases of the coronavirus contracted on board Diamond Princess cruise ship at Yokohama.
  • Two more Australians who were on board tested positive after they were evacuated to Darwin on February 22  

QUEENSLAND: 4  

  • Four Australians test positive for coronavirus after being evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship
  • Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment. 
  • Earlier a 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth . His wife will travel with him but then be isolated at home for two weeks.