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Australia's Prime Minister has ordered a 14-day self-isolation for anyone arriving in the nation to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

 "This is significant," Scott Morrison said at the meeting, adding that it would effective from Midnight on Sunday (13:00 GMT).

 The measures reflect those declared by New Zealand on Saturday.

 Cruise ships will likewise be restricted from docking in Australia for 30 days, yet schools will stay open.

The prime minister announced the measures following a cabinet meeting on the coronavirus crisis.

"This is very important, what we've seen in recent weeks is more countries having issues with the virus and that means the source of some of those transmissions are coming from more and more countries," he said at the briefing in Sydney.

"We know that the virus cannot be absolutely stopped - no-one can do that - but we can slow the spread.

"And we anticipate that will be our task over the next six months."

He encouraged individuals to practice "social distancing", including not shaking hands.

Mr. Morrison said that regardless of the considerable number of changes he trusted Australians would not lose their "sense of Australianness".

Appearing alongside him, Australia's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy admitted that these were "difficult times" for the country.

He has requested Australians to be reasonable when purchasing necessities, cautioning against panic purchasing.

Source: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/news-media/current-alerts/novel-coronavirus