Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday that he was hospitalized due to testing positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2020) Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday that he was hospitalized due to testing positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
"This morning I woke up with a temperature and sore throat. I immediately contacted the Queensland Department of Health and was subsequently tested for COVID-19. I was advised by Queensland Health this afternoon that the test had returned positive. It is the policy of Queensland health that anyone who tests positive is to be admitted into hospital and I have complied with their advice," Dutton said in a statement, which he published on Twitter.
The minister added he was feeling "fine" and promised to provide updates.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that all gatherings of over 500 people would be canceled starting Monday amid the COVID-19 outbreak. He specified that this measure would not be extended to schools, universities, public transport and airports.
"It is precautionary. It is getting ahead of this to ensure that we can minimise the impact on your health and [so] we can ensure with confidence the ability for people to be accessing the health services that they and their families will need," Morrison said, as quoted by the ABC news broadcaster.
The prime minister also called on Australians to abstain from non-essential foreign trips.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Australia has surged by around 40 percent over the past 24 hours, reaching 199. The death toll stands at three.
