New advice for doctors has expanded the list of countries where recent travel, plus symptoms, should flag consideration of testing for COVID-19.

The number of global cases now exceeds 73,000, and 1870 deaths have been reported.

The Department of Health says the decision to include patients who have traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia within 14 days before onset of symptoms, is “based on the volume of travel between those countries, Australia and China, and/or the current epidemiology of COVID-19”.

According to WHO figures, as of Tuesday, Hong Kong had 60 laboratory-confirmed cases, with other hard-hit countries including Singapore with 77, Japan with 65 (excluding those on the Diamond Princess ship), Thailand with 35 and the Republic of Korea with 31.