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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Matthew Dresch

Inside ex-prison camp where Australia's coronavirus evacuees will be quarantined

The first of Australia's coronavirus evacuees are due to arrive at their new 'prison' camp home today.

Footage from inside the Christmas Island Detention Centre shows a fully equipped facility, including a gym, recreational area and computer room.

Evacuees are expected to stay in the camp for two weeks, with some changes taking place in preparation for their arrival, including the erection of a blue tent on a football pitch.

Some 24 doctors and nurses have reportedly been sent to the island to look after the new arrivals.

The 99-acre site features eight accommodation blocks, tennis courts, a kitchen, laundry facilities and a medical centre, however some describe it as a 'prison'.

A blue tent has been set up on a football pitch at the 99-acre detention centre (Australian Government)

The 243 Australian citizens flown out of Wuhan, China, landed in Western Australia this morning, ahead of another flight to Christmas Island.

The evacuation plan has not been well received by everyone on the island, with some claiming it is just a way of making use of the controversial detention centre.

Gordon Thomson, Christmas Island's shire president, told 10 News First: "It's a way of using a half-billion dollar white elephant. This prison they built out here - they just want to do something with it."

The centre closed in 2018 after years of controversy, which saw a hunger strike, riots and claims of negligence.

However, the Government announced plans to reopen the site in 2019 - and some asylum seekers have been temporarily held there in the past year.

Doctors are expected to set up a hospital in an isolated wing at the camp just in case any of the evacuees have the virus.

Australia's Government is planning a second evacuation flight from China later this week as more than 600 Australians are currently on lockdown in Wuhan and the surrounding area, according to the BBC.

Citizens were originally being charged £500 for the evacuation, however the Australian Government later dropped this fee.

Doctors in Australia have so far diagnosed 12 people with coronavirus.

The superbug, now classified by the WHO as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, has reportedly killed 361 in mainland China and one in the Philippines.

More than 17,000 have been infected with the disease worldwide.

The coronavirus death toll in mainland China has overtaken the SARS epidemic of 2003 while a new 1,000-bed hospital to help tackle the outbreak has been built in just eight days.

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