Health authorities are urging passengers from a flight that landed in Melbourne on Friday carrying a coronavirus-infected woman to call a helpline for self-quarantine advice.
The woman, aged in her 30s, was travelling back from Iran via Kuala Lumpur and Bali on Malindo Air flight OD 177 when it landed at Melbourne Airport shortly after 6:00am on Friday.
She caught a private car directly to her home and was later diagnosed with COVID-19, which she is recovering from with only mild symptoms, the state's chief health officer Brett Sutton said.
Dr Sutton said health authorities wanted all passengers sitting in the same row or the two rows either side of the woman to self-quarantine — but they did not have the flight manifest in order to contact the patients.
He said he understood the Commonwealth was trying to provide the manifest "as urgently as they possibly can" and was looking at ways to streamline its processes in the face of the threat posed by the virus.
"I would obviously like passenger manifests to be available instantaneously, if it could be arranged," Dr Sutton said.
In the meantime, all passengers on the flight are being urged to call the Victorian Department of Health's COVID-19 helpline on 1800 675 398.
Dr Sutton said the woman was in the early stages of her illness when she caught the flight.
She went to hospital on Saturday night and her diagnosis with the virus was confirmed late Sunday.
"It's really only very close contact for a relatively prolonged period of time that puts someone at risk and it was at the very beginning of this case's illness and so I think it's unlikely that many people on that flight will be at risk," Dr Sutton said.
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