Australia now introduce coronavirus precautions

The Australian government has finally taken measures to counter the spreading of coronavirus in its country, with the Australian Grand Prix not being cancelled until two hours before FP1 on Friday morning.

The Formula 1 and the FIA faced a lot of criticism with the tardiness of their announcement to cancel the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, with teams, fans and media alike being left in the dark for a long time.

McLaren had already withdrawn from the race as one of their employees tested positively for COVID-19 in Melbourne. Now, with the F1 circus having packed in and left the country, Australia has tightened up its borders. Prime minister Scott Morrison has ordered anyone arriving into the country to be in self-isolation for 14 days.

"This is very important," Morrison said when announcing the measure.

"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."

Australia is following the lead of countless other countries, with the coronavirus claiming thousands of lives worldwide already.

"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."