Cairns woman contracts novel coronavirus months after disembarking the Ruby Princess

Authorities suspect Queensland’s most recent COVID-19 case could have been picked up two months ago on the Ruby Princess, making it the second case in as many weeks to go unchecked for more than eight weeks.

A CAIRNS woman in her 60s is the latest passenger of the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship to contract the pandemic coronavirus.

The woman, who is in isolation after testing positive to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is one of 163 Queensland cases that have been linked to eight cruise ships.

But her case is under investigation by Queensland Health, coming more than two months after the Ruby Princess docked in Sydney on March 19.

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“Although a former passenger of the Ruby Princess Cruise ship, exactly where the woman contracted COVID-19 has not been determined,” a Queensland Health spokesman said.

 “Contact tracing is underway involving this new case.”

It’s the second case in which a Queenslander has tested positive almost two months after travelling, with a woman in her 70s last week undergoing further tests after it was revealed she travelled home to Australia from India via Singapore in March.

Cruise ship passengers disembark from the Ruby Princess at Sydney’s Circular Quay on March 19, 2020. Photo: Dean Lewins.

More than 20 Ruby Princess passengers have died of COVID-19, including three Queenslanders.

Of the cruise ship’s more than 600 passengers and crew who have been infected with the virus, 85 of them were from Queensland.

Cruise ships account for about 15 per cent of the 1057 total known infections in Queensland and the Ruby Princess has been linked to eight per cent of the state’s cases.

The Cairns woman is one of just 12 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Queensland, compared with 381 in NSW and 66 in Victoria. Four Queenslanders remain in hospital with COVID-19, including one in intensive care.

Public health officials remain concerned about the cases where a source of infection cannot be tracked, including 41 Queensland cases, 370 in NSW and 180 in Victoria.

More than 176,000 tests for the new virus have been conducted in Queensland.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has described testing as a key plank in the state’s arsenal of measures to control the virus, urging everyone with even the mildest of symptoms to get tested.

“If someone has a fever, or history of a fever, we’re saying get tested no matter what other symptoms you’ve got. But you don’t need a fever to get tested,” Dr Young said.

“We know that some people will never get a temperature because they’ll never get sick enough. If you’ve got any symptoms no matter how mild – a cough, sore throat, anything, then get tested. Don’t wait for a temperature because you mightn’t get one. It can be so mild.”