Australia announces 1 billion dollars to fight spread of coronavirus

Australia will spend one billion dollars to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday as the cases of the deadly infection in the country touched 61 on Friday.

Morrison said the federal government will go 50-50 with the states to meet the public health cost of the coronavirus treatment.

In an official statement on Friday, Morrison said 1 billion Australian dollars will be immediately available with more funds to be released from the Federal Government coffers as necessary.

Morrison said measures to respond to the outbreak would cost "at least'' 1 billion Australian dollars and that it would be spread between federal, state and the territory governments.

Meanwhile, a boys high school in Sydney was shut down after a diagnosis of coronavirus in a 16-year-old student, the ninth case within about a six-kilometre square distance, according to media reports.

Earlier in the week, a 95-year-old woman resident of the nursing home died due to the infection, while four people at the facility have been quarantined.

The total cases across New South Wales have reached 26 till Friday.

In Queensland, almost 3,000 people have been issued voluntary notices to self-isolate by health authorities since the global outbreak.

A 20-year-old Chinese man became Brisbane's first confirmed case of coronavirus after testing positive on Tuesday.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she had "some concerns" about the veracity of overseas isolation, but it was a matter for the federal government to examine any quarantine loopholes.

A 52-year-old tourist become the Northern Territory's first confirmed case of the coronavirus while Victoria recorded its 10th case.

On Friday, a Victorian high school asked 16 students and their families to self-isolate at home as it awaits the coronavirus test results of two Indonesians on an exchange visit.

Australia's national airline Qantas has also announced further reduction in its numbers of flights in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The airlines on Friday said it would reduce its frequency of flights to Japan in the coming weeks after cancelling dozens of other flights through to the end of March, including eight return Sydney-Hong Kong services and five return Melbourne-Auckland services.

Prime Minister Morrison on Thursday announced travel ban on South Korea in an attempt to minimise the spread of the disease.