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The Northern Territory will host approximately 280 Australians who are being evacuated from China.

The Chief Health Officer has complete confidence that the Darwin community will not be impacted by this cohort being quarantined at the Manigurr-ma accommodation village at Howard Springs. The facility is perfectly fit for quarantine purposes and will provide these Australians with the care they require for the 14 day period.

The selected site will be a declared isolation zone under the Notifiable Diseases Act – that means any movement in or out is strictly controlled and enforceable by law. The facility encompasses accommodations, designated internal isolation zones if required, commercial kitchen and recreation facilities are all available.

The plane will arrive on Saturday morning into RAAF base Darwin side of airport and be met by Australian Border force, AUSMAT and ADF. The AUSMAT team on the flight from Wuhan will have screened the passengers and give forward notice of anyone who is unwell. The Christmas Island experience was that the passengers were all well and no admission to hospital has been required.

It is very important to note that the evacuees who will be quarantined are Australian citizens and permanent resident who are NOT SICK. None are symptomatic.

The quarantine is a precautionary measure.

The evacuees were screened before leaving China, they travel with a medical AUSMAT team who will be accommodated in the complex as well to provide immediate medical response should it be required. The evacuees are screened throughout the 14-day period of their quarantine.

The evacuees will be confined within the accommodation complex; they will not be mixing in the community and there is no risk to the public. The virus is spread only through close contact. That means any neighbouring facilities will not be affected. This is due to the nature of the virus being droplet based and not an airborne virus.

Any services provided to the evacuees is delivered in line with health and safety guidelines to protect the health of staff involved.