Selina was helpless when her 9-year-old daughter could not leave Wuhan for Australia to reunite with her mother on the evacuation flight because there was no guardian.

Selina, an Australian citizen, takes her daughter Theresa to visit her parents in Wuhan, her birthplace, before Christmas. She returned to Australia alone in early January for work, but Theresa remained with her grandparents.

The decision left Theresa stuck in Wuhan when China sealed off the city to prevent the pandemic pneumonia virus (nCoV) from spreading. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China, is the place where this outbreak occurred.

When the Australian government on February 3 began evacuating citizens from Wuhan, 9-year-old Theresa was unable to board the plane because an Australian citizen traveling with her was not a "legal guardian".

"Why can they isolate a child?" Selina, who did not disclose them, said. "Isn't the most important thing to do first is get the kids out of the epidemic area? You can't say there's no solution."

Selina has called all relevant Australian agencies for days but only received the answer: "We cannot do anything".

On February 4, a hotline consultant from Smartraveller, Australia's travel and tourism information agency, told Selina she "wait until the Chinese government opens Wuhan. ".

Neither Theresa's grandparents were able to board the evacuation flight, as it was only for Australian citizens and their spouses and children.

Selina sent an application to fly from Australia to Wuhan to pick up her child on an unaccompanied flight of Qantas, but was rejected even though she offered to pay for the ticket.

"I told them I would just sit on the plane waiting until they took my daughter up. I would not leave the plane, but they refused," she said. "They said it was not available to me with the same medical facilities and situation."

Australia's evacuation flight left Wuhan on February 3 and landed at Learmonth Airport, the town of Exmouth, western Australia. Passengers were then taken to quarantine on Christmas Island.

Selina said she is willing to go to Christmas Island to stay with her daughter if Theresa is evacuated.

"Right now, I don't know when she'll leave the city. My daughter needs care, needs to go to school and needs to be protected," Selina said.

Selina's parents and Theresa arrived in Australia on January 27, but the flight was canceled after Chinese authorities issued a blockade and restrictions on travel in Wuhan from January 23.

"Get her out of here immediately," Selina's father then told her.

By February 5, the number of people dying from an acute coronary illness caused by the corona virus increased to 492, mainly in China, and the number of cases also increased to nearly 25,000.

Greg Barns, a lawyer and spokesman for the Lawyers Association of Australia, said the incident of the mother and daughter Theresa could put the Australian government at risk of violating human rights obligations under the International Human Rights Treaty for Children and Parents, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

According to the CRC, "of all actions involving children, whether performed by public or private welfare organizations, courts, administrative or legislative bodies, the best interests of Children must always be considered first. "

"By law, children's rights are paramount," Barns said. "Leaving the child there is both morally and legally wrong. In this case, the Australian government may contact the parents of the child to board the child for evacuation with appropriate care. case of airline ". The Australian Government has not commented on this case yet.