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

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

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

couple were among about 160 Australians evacuated from Diamond Princess last month and y tested positive for coronavirus during ir flight home.

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

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

He insisted both h been isolated early and that ir cases posed " risk to 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 h travelled from Iran was diagsed with disease.

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

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