Northern Territory records first coronavirus case

A 52-year-old tourist is in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus in the Northern Territory – the territory’s first case of the deadly COVID-19 disease.

A tourist has tested positive for the coronavirus in the Northern Territory, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 46.

The 52-year-old man was diagnosed on Wednesday evening and is now in isolation at the Royal Darwin Hospital, according to NT Health.

It is the territory’s first case of the COVID-19 virus.

“The man only recently arrived in Darwin via Sydney and has had limited contact with the local community,” it said in a statement.

“The Top End Health Service Public Health Unit is undertaking contact tracing and will reach out to those who may have been in contact with the man in line with public health protocols.”

The man is in isolation at the Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: Supplied

The update comes after two people were diagnosed with the disease in South Australia and Queensland on Wednesday.

A 40-year-old woman who recently returned from Iran was the fourth South Australian to have contracted the virus, with her baby now undergoing testing.

SA Health said the woman arrived on March 1 from Kuala Lumpur and was asking anyone on the same flight to contact authorities.

Authorities are also in the process of contacting anyone she had close interactions with after she disembarked.

She will be treated in an Adelaide hospital as her child awaits test results.

“It’s obviously quite important for us to also have that baby tested,” chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said.

Another three people in the state have tested positive to the virus since the outbreak, but all have now been cleared and discharged from hospital.

Two others are awaiting results after undergoing testing.

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The number of coronavirus cases in Australia is rising. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

Meanwhile, a 26-year-old Logan man recently returned from Iran was the 11th person in Queensland to have contracted the coronavirus.

He is in isolation in the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane in a stable condition.

The patient is Queensland’s second confirmed case in two days after a 20-year-old Chinese student was diagnosed on Monday.

The University of Queensland student arrived in Australia on February 23 after spending 14 days in Dubai to bypass Australia’s China travel ban.

He fell ill two days later, but waited five more days before seeking medical help.

He remains isolated in a Brisbane hospital while his housemate undergoes testing.

A 63-year-old woman with the virus is also still isolation, in the Gold Coast University Hospital.

The other eight patients have recovered, and have been cleared and discharged from hospital.

A worker at Dorothy Henderson Lodge has tested positive to the coronavirus and is now in isolation at North Shore hospital. Picture: Toby Zerna

In Sydney a woman who was displaying respiratory illness symptoms in a nursing home, where a worker has been infected by the coronavirus, has died.

The 95-year-old woman was under the care of the 50-year-old female carer, but it is unclear whether she had the virus at this stage.

The carer has been confirm as one of the of the seven new NSW victims in the past 24 hours.

She worked at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Macquarie Park, in Sydney’s north west, with 13 residents. Eleven of them have been isolated.

A lecturer at Macquarie University has become the latest person in NSW to be diagnosed after arriving back from Iran.

The Science and Engineering faculty staff member is in isolation at Westmead Hospital after becoming sick shortly after returning.

The lecturer did not have any contact with staff or students.

“Our staff member became ill following their return from Iran and took immediate steps to seek medical attention,” Vice Chancellor S Bruce Dowton said in a statement to students.

“Our staff member has not been present at Macquarie University’s campus since returning from Iran and has had no contact with either staff or students.”

Originally published as Northern Territory records first coronavirus case