The second group of Australians airlifted from the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China have arrived on Christmas Island after a long journey.
The 35 citizens and permanent residents left the Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday on an Air New Zealand flight evacuating 98 New Zealanders and a number of others to Auckland.
They were then flown from New Zealand on a charter plane across the Australian continent to the island off the coast of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean.
Australian Medical Assistance Teams (AUSMAT) wearing protective face masks boarded the plane once it landed on Christmas Island, nearly two hours later than scheduled, to check the passengers before they were loaded onto three buses.
The evacuees from China arrived on Christmas Island in the early hours of the morning after stopping in Auckland and Brisbane. Source: AAP
They were kept well away from the waiting Australian media - with some waving to the cameras as they departed on the buses for the detention centre where they will spend 14 days.
So far, there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus infection among the men, women and children already there.
Meanwhile, on mainland Australia, a 37-year-old man became the fourth person in Queensland to be diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday.
He travelled with three people who have been confirmed as having the virus, bringing the Australian total to 14 confirmed cases
State by state data shows three confirmed infections in Queensland, four each in NSW and Victoria and two in South Australia.
Three of the 14 have recovered and have been released from isolation.
