Coronavirus Australia: Flights from China to undergo biosecurity checks

Despite news emerging overnight confirming the potentially deadly coronavirus is spread human-to-human, the overall risk to public health remains low, Australia's chief medical officer says. However, the 3 direct flights into Sydney each week from the virus' epicentre of Wuhan in the Central Chinese province of Hubei will now be met by Australian biosecurity personnel. With the total number of cases now standing at 222 - and 3 recorded deaths - professor Brendan Murphy assured Australians there was no need for alarm. "The risk to the Australian public from this novel coronavirus remains relatively low," he said Tuesday. "Although, we do need to keep a precautionary and active surveillance of the situation." Murphy said no international travellers have yet been confirmed with coronavirus in Australia. <br/>