20 February 2020

Please attribute to a NSW Health spokesperson:

CasesNumber
NSW – number of cases confirmed4 (see below)
NSW – number of cases under investigation45
NSW – number of cases cleared1,657

Of the four confirmed cases, all patients have been discharged, a 53 year old male, a 35 year old male, a 21 year old female and a 43 year old male.

No new patients were confirmed overnight.

On 17 February, the Australian Government advised NSW Health that 22 Australians who had been passengers on the MS Westerdam cruise ship returned to Australia via Sydney on 15 February, and provided the passengers’ email details.

20 of the 22 passengers on the Westerdam have been contacted. Anyone who was on the ship who has not yet been in touch with Heath authorities should self-isolate and contact their local public health unit in NSW on 1300 066 055 as soon as possible for further advice.

Border screening

NSW Health is taking a precautionary approach to the prevention of COVID-19, assisting the Australian Government in assessing passengers who arrive at Sydney Airport who have been in China in the previous 14 days and assessing passengers arriving on some cruise ships into Sydney from international ports.

Sydney Airport

Since Sunday 2 February, a total of 18,995 people have been assessed at Sydney International Airport. A total of 66 were sent for testing. This includes testing conducted as at 1pm today when 498 arrivals from mainland China were assessed at Sydney International Airport. No one was sent for testing.

Cruise ships

Following a risk assessment, no cruise ships were required to be met by the health assessment team today.

NB: The figures refer to people who are in NSW and have been investigated for, or have been diagnosed with novel coronavirus. We will not be disclosing the hospital locations of patients under investigation for privacy reasons