The Federal Government is expected to extend the 14-day travel ban on tourists coming from China because of the Covid-19 Coronavirus, and officials over there are reporting the biggest one-day jump in fatalities.

Health officials have broadened teh diagnostic definition of the coronavirus.  In Hubei province said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, which brings the total number of deaths in the province to 1,310.  They also added more than 14,840 new cases to the tally of the infected in Hubei Province alone, bringing the total number to 48,206.  Globally, the death toll is 1.355 with only two deaths reported outside mainland China, and well more than 60,000 infections since the novel coronavirus crossed species to humans in December.

Australia's 14-day ban on tourists travelling from mainland China was supposed to expire this weekend.  But medical experts advised the Federal Government's national security committee, and that ban is expected to be extended.

This means further delays and untold frustration for around 100,000 Chinese students who have been unable to start their university and TAFE classes in Australia.  To help them out, China has agreed to loosen its tight internet restrictions so that the students can access their coursework online while they are banned from Australia during the widening coronavirus outbreak.