Doctors will be flown on to eight foreign cruise ships floating off NSW in a joint government operation to test and evacuate patients needing urgent coronavirus treatment.
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Once crews have been treated, the federal government will increase pressure on foreign cruise companies to sail away from Australia.
More than 450 cases of coronavirus in NSW have been linked to cruise ships, the state's health department said on Thursday.
NSW Police are locked in a stand-off with foreign cruise ships, urging them to proceed immediately to their home ports rather than risk flooding NSW hospitals with COVID-19 patients.
In an attempt to end the stalemate, Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says helicopters will be used to fly doctors on board.
"At first they will go on and they will do an assessment and the standard temperature check and ask questions around symptoms of the virus," the commissioner told reporters on Thursday morning.
"If the crew is fit and healthy, I have no hesitation in asking (Home Affairs) Minister Peter Dutton to enforce the orders for them to leave our shores."
Anyone requiring urgent medical attention would be brought ashore.
Mr Fuller says there are eight cruise ships off NSW carrying about 8500 crew members. All known Australian crew members have been extracted.
Two ships had agreed to refuel over the coming days and depart Australian shores, the commissioner said.
"If a small percentage end up with the virus it will overwhelm our health system and everything we've done to date will be wasted.
"Every cruise ship that leaves, I see it as a victory for NSW."
The federal government will pay for the operation, which will be co-ordinated by the Australian Border Force with help from NSW Police.
A private company - Aspen Medical - will help test and treat crew members.
Mr Dutton met with Mr Fuller and NSW Police Minister David Elliott on Wednesday to discuss the cruise ship situation.
"What we've agreed to do is to look at each of these vessels and to do a proper assessment of what's happening on board," Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.
"If you force these boats to set sail and they have people that die or get seriously sick by the time they get a couple of hundred nautical miles off the coast, they will turn around and come back."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the government's stance will not harm Australians who might be similarly stuck on cruise ships off other countries.
"If there are people who are sick and need healthcare, then whether it is a foreign national off our shores or an Australian somewhere else - countries have been respecting that," he told reporters in Canberra.
The Maritime Union of Australia says the situation is a humanitarian crisis waiting to happen.
"The Australian government must urgently act to allow the safe repatriation of all crew members not essential for marine operation to their home countries," national secretary Paddy Crumlin said.
Australian Associated Press