CORONAVIRUS CLAIMS 70 YEAR WOMAN
Health authorities in NSW
have confirmed Australia's eighth coronavirus death — a female passenger in her
70s who had been on the Ruby Princess cruise ship.
NSW Health said the woman,
who was among the first group of people infected on the ship, died in hospital
on Tuesday morning.
There have been 133
diagnosed cases of COVID-19 aboard the Ruby Princess, which docked in Sydney
last week.
Of those, 107 are from
NSW, and 26 are from interstate.
According to ABC News, the
woman is the seventh person to die from COVID-19 in NSW.
In the 24 hours to 8:00pm
Monday, a total of 149 coronavirus infections were confirmed in NSW, taking the
state's total to 818.
NSW Health said no cases
of COVID-19 were found by doctors on board the cruise liner before docking.
"Five people who had
displayed influenza-like illness were tested in Wellington, New Zealand on 14
March, and all were negative for COVID-19," a spokesperson said in a
statement.
It comes after reports
of passengers spending days in the community before being asked to self-isolate following
coronavirus detections on board.
On March 18, Federal
Health Minister Greg Hunt issued an emergency biosecurity order preventing any
cruise vessels from docking in Australia for the next month.
There were 13 passenger
cruise ships still at sea at the time the order came into force, including the
Ruby Princess.
NSW Health said among the
149 new cases of COVID-19 were two teachers at Normanhurst West Public School,
in Sydney's upper north shore. The school remains closed.
There have been a further
three positive cases at Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Sydney's north, where 11
residents and five staff have been infected with the virus so far.
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