SA woman tests positive to coronavirus after being evacuated from Diamond Princess cruise ship
An SA woman evacuated to Darwin from the cruise ship Diamond Princess has landed in Adelaide after testing positive for coronavirus.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- LATEST UPDATES: Two Aussies test positive to coronavirus
- Make the most of your Advertiser digital subscription
A 24-year-old South Australian woman evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship has arrived at the Royal Adelaide Hospital this morning after testing positive for coronavirus.
She was flown in from Darwin and is in a stable condition.
The woman, who was travelling alone, had tested negative before being allowed to board the Qantas charter flight evacuating Australian citizens from Yokohama in Japan.
However on landing in Darwin on Thursday she told authorities she felt sick with a sore throat and slightly runny nose.
Tests showed she was positive to the virus and SA Health authorities were alerted late Thursday night.
She is the third SA coronavirus case, with a Chinese couple now cleared of the virus.
A Royal Flying Doctor Service jet was due to fly from Adelaide to Darwin with a nurse at 4pm to pick up the patient and was expected to be back in Adelaide around 1am Saturday.
The woman will be met by an ambulance and immediately be taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to be placed in an quarantine isolation room that has features including negative pressure to prevent air escaping.
The woman, an Australian citizen and resident of South Australia, is in a stable condition with mild symptoms.
Authorities were not sure if she was a passenger or worker on the ship, which went into lockdown off the coast of Japan when the virus was detected on board a fortnight ago.
Another passenger on the Qantas evacuation flight has also since tested positive to the virus and is being flown to their home state of Western Australia, under an agreement by Australian health authorities to take any such patients to their home state to be near their families and friends.
About 180 other Australian citizens and permanent residents on the flight — who were all tested and found to be negative before boarding — are being taken to Howard Springs in the Northern Territory to stay in isolation for 14 days while being monitored.
Another ten Australians who had hoped to board the flight had to stay behind when their tests came back positive.
SA Chief Public Health Office Associate Professor Nicola Spurrier said she received the call about the case late on Thursday night.
“Given the time of the night we thought it better to have the person who was very stable to have a good night’s sleep,” she said.
“She is quite stable and deemed fit to fly.”
Prof Spurrier said the woman had only mild symptoms and it was pleasing that when she came off the flight in Darwin she told authorities she did not feel well and was then tested and the results came back promptly.
Prof Spurrier said it was not surprising that a person could return a negative test at one time and a positive test later.
Two other people who tested positive for the virus in SA and were admitted to the RAH have since been discharged and officials are conducting follow up repeat tests with them.
