Number of COVID-19 cases in Australia March 2020 by location visited
Australia’s first coronavirus case was discovered on January 25, 2020. The infected person was a man from the coronavirus epicenter, Wuhan, who had flown into Melbourne on the 19th of January. Although some of the first infections in Australia can be attributed to travelers from China, by March 17, infections attributed to people who had visited the United States and Italy had overtaken China.
Travel restrictions
With the rate of infection in China climbing steadily in early February 2020, the Australian government began to implement measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. These measures involved social distancing and broad travel restrictions, including the closing of boarders to all foreign nationals arriving from China on February 1. Overall, the number of travelers moving through airports across Australia had already begun to drop noticeably and Chinese students were one of the largest groups to be affected. By March, well after the 2020 school year had begun, over 50 percent of Chinese university students with visas to study in Australia had not entered the country. This also added to economic concerns, with Chinese students representing just over 12 billion Australian dollars in education export income in 2019.
Cruise ships
During the COVID-19 pandemic a number of cruise ships were hit by the virus, which spread amongst passengers and staff in the closed environments. The Diamond Princess, which was quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, had around 180 Australians on board, of which at least a quarter contracted the coronavirus. The Ruby Princess was another cruise ship attributed to the spread of COVID-19 within Australia. On March 19, 2020, the ship docked in Sydney harbor and 2,700 passengers disembarked. By March 24 it was confirmed that 133 passengers had contracted COVID-19 on the Ruby Princess.
Travel restrictions
With the rate of infection in China climbing steadily in early February 2020, the Australian government began to implement measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. These measures involved social distancing and broad travel restrictions, including the closing of boarders to all foreign nationals arriving from China on February 1. Overall, the number of travelers moving through airports across Australia had already begun to drop noticeably and Chinese students were one of the largest groups to be affected. By March, well after the 2020 school year had begun, over 50 percent of Chinese university students with visas to study in Australia had not entered the country. This also added to economic concerns, with Chinese students representing just over 12 billion Australian dollars in education export income in 2019.
Cruise ships
During the COVID-19 pandemic a number of cruise ships were hit by the virus, which spread amongst passengers and staff in the closed environments. The Diamond Princess, which was quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, had around 180 Australians on board, of which at least a quarter contracted the coronavirus. The Ruby Princess was another cruise ship attributed to the spread of COVID-19 within Australia. On March 19, 2020, the ship docked in Sydney harbor and 2,700 passengers disembarked. By March 24 it was confirmed that 133 passengers had contracted COVID-19 on the Ruby Princess.
