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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged coronavirus travel bans for South Korea and Italy.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Morrison confirmed that he has asked border authorities to consider expanding the travel ban that has been in place for China since the start of February.
"I have also today asked that issues around travel and border control be reassessed again in relation to higher risk groups from nations," he told reporters.
"That obviously includes looking at the issues in the Republic of Korea and in Italy.
"As is always the case, we will keep looking at it each and every day."
It comes only one day after Brendan Murphy, Australia's Chief Medical Officer, advised that it was "no longer possible" to prevent the novel coronavirus from entering Australia with travel bans.
The prime minister again urged Australians to remain calm amid reports that consumers were beginning to "panic buy" supplies to prepare for possible outbreaks.
"They would send the same message that I'm sending you today. That is, it is important that people just go about their business and their normal processes in a calm manner," Morrison said.
"And they've spoken to me about the arrangements they have in place around their supply lines and things like this, but I would just urge people to be going about their business in their normal way when it comes to those matters."
With the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) set to make a decision on interest rates on Tuesday afternoon, Morrison called on the big four banks to "do the right thing" and pass on any cuts in full to customers.
"If the Reserve Bank moves today... I would expect they would do the right thing by those Australians who are looking to see any support," he said.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
