All non-citizen, non-resident travellers will be banned from entering Australia from Friday night

• All non-residents and non-citizens are now banned from entering Australia.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the measures, saying they were necessary to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

• It followed a directive earlier this week for all Australians to return home as soon as possible via commercial flights.

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All non-citizen, non-resident travellers will be banned from entering Australia, as the government attempts to get a handle on the coronavirus outbreak.

“We believe it is essential to take a further step to ensure we are now no longer allowing anyone, unless they are a citizen or resident or direct family member," Scott Morrison said in an address on Thursday afternoon.

The government's reasoning is that a significant majority of cases are not contracting the virus through community transmission, but by contact with someone who has recently travelled from overseas.

“The reason for this decision is about 80 per cent of the cases we have in Australia are either the result of someone who has contracted the virus overseas or someone who has had a direct contact with someone who has returned from overseas,” he said.

Earlier this week, the government announced all Australians currently overseas should return home immediately, using commercial flights.