Police officers appeared outside the Swiss hotel in Sydney this morning. (Photo of Sydney Morning Herald)
The 293 australian passengers who were stranded on the norwegian Norwegian Jewel cruise ship set off from hawaii on an australian (Qantas) charter plane and arrived in sydney early this morning.
Five of the passengers disembarked and were taken to hospital for a new coronavirus test. other passengers were housed at the sydney swiss hotel (Swissotel Sydney).
The five-star hotel in Sydney`s CBD has been declared the "Human Health Response Area (human health response zones)", which is used to isolate passengers who fly overseas to Australia. Shopping places like QVB、Sydney Westfield、David Jones and Myer are adjacent to them.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Ministry of the Interior speaker confirmed that the charter, which carried 293 passengers, arrived at Sydney Airport and that "all passengers were screened for health ".
On arrival, the flight was picked up by biosafety personnel to assess all passengers reported to be unwell before disembarkation. He added :" Passengers who have passed health screening will receive 14 days of isolation in a specialized hotel. Five passengers who failed health screening were taken to hospital for COVID-19 testing. "
A new state government source also confirmed that passengers who passed the health screening were sent by border guards to a hotel in sydney and are currently in quarantine.
Hot footage from social media shows people with personal protective gear (PPE) entering the swiss hotel in sydney around 4 am.
Netizens say people wearing protective gear walked into a Swiss hotel in Sydney. (Twitter picture)
Earlier this week, all passengers aboard the norwegian gem were allowed to disembark in hawaii, including hundreds of australians. The cruise was previously denied entry from ports such as Fiji and New Zealand.
Passengers said they had been tested when disembarking from hawaii and again when they landed in sydney around 1:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, federal chief medical officer and head of human biosafety (Human Biosecurity) department, murphy (Brendan Murphy), today officially announced that the swiss hotel in sydney will be classified as a "human health response area ". A decision was taken under the Biosafety (Biosecurity Act 2015) Act 2015.
Only "specific categories of persons" are required to enter the region, including:
- People who fly into Australia (these planes take passengers to Australia due to the possibility of a human coronavirus pandemic);
- new state or federal biosafety personnel;
- or new state police (NSW Police force) personnel.
