Australia’s first virus death was Diamond Princess passenger

A 78-year-old man with coronavirus died in a Perth hospital, marking Australia’s first fatality, after returning from the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan last month. The man was initially sent to the Howard Springs facility in northern Australia after becoming ill on the flight back from Japan and was then moved to the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth where he died yesterday. His 79-year-old wife, who also tested positive for the virus, remains isolated in the hospital in a stable condition and there is no risk to the community, said Andrew Robertson, Western Australia’s chief health officer. Elsewhere in the country, two new cases emerged in recent days in Sydney and the Gold Coast after a man and a woman returned from trips to Iran. Australia over the weekend banned incoming travel from Iran for non-nationals, and Health Minister Greg Hunt said he has asked the deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, to consider the appropriate level of travel advice for Italy. Restrictions on travel from mainland China were extended last week. “Right from the outset, we’ve made it clear that we will take strong action, but that Australia is not immune,” Hunt said in Melbourne on Sunday. There are now 27
confirmed coronavirus cases in Australia, he said. The death comes just days after the Australian government activated an emergency plan to deal with the outbreak, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the risk of a global pandemic is “very much upon us.”
Thailand also recorded its first death from the coronavirus outbreak over the weekend. The 35-year-old retail worker had dengue fever and the new disease known as Covid-19, Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director general of the Department of Disease Control, said in a briefing yesterday. The patient had been hosp i t a l i z e d for nearly a month and died on Feb. 29 after multiple organ failure. The patient had tested negative for the virus since Feb. 16 but “the damage was already done to his body” from the infection, said Tawee Chotpitayasunondh, adviser to the Department of Disease Control. The health ministry is still looking into the case, Suwannachai said. Almost 3,000 people have died from the infection, mostly in epicenter China. Thailand has reported 42 cases of infection, with 30 of those discharged. The epidemic saw the U.S. record its first fatality from the virus on Saturday and cases increased in France, Italy and South Korea. MDT/BLOOMBERG