Sydney, March 15 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday ordered a 14-day self-isolation for anyone arriving in the country in an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
"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," the BBC quoted Morrison as saying at a briefing here.
"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."
The measure will come into force from Sunday midnight.
The Prime Minister also urged people to practise more "social distancing", including not shaking hands.
Appearing alongside him, Australia's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy admitted that these were "difficult times" for the country and called on Austral to be sensible when buying necessities, warning against panic buying, reports the BBC.
The Australian government has also banned foreign cruise liners from docking in the country for 30 days, but schools will remain open.
Australia has reported 249 confirmed cases, with three deaths.
( With inputs from IANS )