Download the all-new Republic app:

Published 11:44 IST, March 1st 2020

78-year-old is Australia's first coronavirus fatality

A 78-year-old man evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise liner in Japan died at a Perth hospital on Sunday, becoming Australia's first fatality from the disease, officials said.

Follow: Google News Icon
  • share
null | Image: self
Advertisement

A 78-year-old man evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise liner in Japan died at a Perth hospital on Sunday, becoming Australia's first fatality from the disease, officials said.

His 79-year-old wife was also infected with the disease during the cruise and remains in a Perth hospital, a spokeswoman for the Western Australian state health department told AFP.

Advertisement

The couple were among about 160 Australians evacuated from the Diamond Princess last month and they tested positive for the coronavirus during their flight home.

They were immediately transferred to isolation units in the Perth hospital on February 21 while the rest of the evacuees were quarantined in a former miners' camp near the northern city of Darwin.

Advertisement

READ | Coronavirus Outbreak: Australian Man Evacuated From Japan's Cruise Ship Dies

Andrew Robertson, Western Australia's chief medical officer, said the couple initially seemed to have only a mild version of the illness, but that the man's condition subsequently deteriorated.

Advertisement

He insisted both had been isolated early and that their cases posed "no risk to the general community or (medical) staff".

Earlier Sunday, health authorities in New South Wales state confirmed a 26th case of coronavirus in Australia after a man in his 40s who had travelled from Iran was diagnosed with the disease.

Advertisement

He was the second Australian infected in Iran. All other cases of the disease in Australia other than the Perth couple involved people who had come from China's Hubei province, where the virus was first reported.

READ | Coronavirus Outbreak: American Airlines To Suspend Flights To Milan

READ | US Police Raise False Alarm, Link Coronavirus To Meth To Trick Users Into Turning In Drugs

11:44 IST, March 1st 2020