Coronavirus: Seven guests contract Covid-19 after Australian couple ignore government rules to have dream Bali wedding

‘It wasn’t even that bad, I’ve woken up with worse hangovers,’ says guest

Balinese Hindus wearing face masks as they attend a ritual amid the coronavirus outbreak (REUTERS)

Seven Australians have tested positive for coronavirus after they attended the destination wedding of a couple who ignored non-essential travel warnings from the government.

According to a report by the Daily Mail Australia, Matt and Jess Muir went ahead with their Bali wedding on 20 March, just seven days after prime minister Scott Morrison warned Australians not to travel overseas amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Out of 120 guests the couple had invited, only 30 made the trip as all of them would have had to self-isolate for 14 days once they returned to Australia. All the guests were tested for coronavirus after one of them tested positive.

One of the guests told the Mail all those who caught Covid-19 did not require hospital treatment and have subsequently recovered.

They said no one had symptoms when they returned, and added: “It wasn’t even that bad, I’ve woken up with worse hangovers.”

In an Instagram post, Mrs Muir reportedly said: “Thinking about how appreciative and thankful we are of the sacrifice each one of [the guests] made to celebrate our special day! It meant the absolute world to us!”

Bali is a highly popular destination for weddings among Australians, who dominate the wedding market there alongside Chinese tourists.

Several days after the wedding, the Australian government announced even tougher restrictions on daily life after the outbreak there worsened.

Weddings and funerals were to be conducted with no more than five people, including the couple tying the knot, and overseas travel was banned altogether.

Earlier in March, 37 people who attended the wedding of a social media influencer tested positive for coronavirus, making headlines in local newspapers.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Scott Maggs and Emma Metcalf were married on 6 March with 120 guests in attendance. They were informed of the first two infected guests while on their honeymoon in the Maldives.

Australia has recorded over 6,500 cases of Covid-19, with 63 deaths. On Thursday, Mr Morrison announced the country would maintain its lockdown restrictions for an additional four weeks.

Morrison said the rules would not be relaxed until national testing capacity has been increased, contact tracing of known COVID-19 cases expanded and a response to any future outbreak fully prepared.

"We want to be very clear with Australians, baseline restrictions we have in place at the moment, there are no plans to change those for the next four weeks," Morrison told reporters.

Indonesia has also introduced restrictions on the movement of locals and tourists, prompting fears that Bali's tourism industry could be decimated as visitors leave in droves and stay away. Around 1.2 million Australians visit the island each year and it is heavily dependent on the industry.

There are over 5,516 confirmed coronavirus cases in Indonesia, with 496 deaths reported, the highest number of fatalities in Southeast Asia.

Additional reporting by agencies