Australia’s home affairs minister Peter Dutton admitted into hospital with coronovirus positive, he’s ‘feeling fine’

SYNDEY, Mar 13, 2020, ABC News. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed he has coronavirus. The Federal Government frontbencher said he felt fine but woke up with a temperature and sore throat, ABC News reported.

“I immediately contacted the Queensland Department of Health and was subsequently tested for COVID-19,” Mr Dutton said in a statement.

“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.

“I feel fine and will provide an update in due course.”

Mr Dutton was in Sydney for a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and returned to Brisbane on a commercial flight on the same day.

He participated in Cabinet’s national security committee meeting on Thursday via phone, during which the Government decided to extend its China, Italy, Iran and South Korean travel bans.

When someone contracts COVID-19, health officials alert people who have been in contact with them.

They are then expected to self-isolate at home and monitor their health for 14 days after the contact with the infected person.

Breaking down the latest news and research to understand how the world is living through an epidemic, this is the ABC’s Coronacast.

The ABC has contacted Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office to see if he, and the Cabinet, will have to isolate themselves.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Morrison met with state and territory leaders to assess Australia’s response to the spread of coronavirus.

Mr Dutton missed his usual Friday morning appearance on commercial TV, at the time being described as having a “stomach bug”.

On Monday, he opened a new Moreton Bay campus for the University of the Sunshine Coast, alongside Education Minister Dan Tehan and former defence chief Angus Houston.

Mr Dutton met with United States Attorney-General William Barr and US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka while in Washington DC last week.

It comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau goes into 14-day isolation in the wake of his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, testing positive for coronavirus.