CHO confirms shocking Blackwater COVID-19 case revelation

Queensland's Chief Health Officer has released a statement after the miner’s autopsy results were returned today, with shocking results.

Queensland Health workers test locals in Blackwater for Covid Virus at the Blackwater Show grounds - Photo Steve Vit

UPDATE 9.20PM: QUEENSLAND's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young has confirmed Nathan Turner did not have COVID-19. 

In a statement issued to The Morning Bulletin this evening, Dr Young said further tests had revealed the negative result. 

"On May 27, a post-mortem test on a man from Blackwater returned positive for COVID-19 and his partner confirmed he had been unwell with flu-like symptoms for a number of weeks," Dr Young said. 

"On that basis Queensland Health established a rapid public health response, including quarantining and testing close contacts, expanding COVID-19 testing in Blackwater and talking to the community, as it would expect us to do.

"The Coroner tonight advised that further tests have returned negative for COVID-19. He is yet to determine the man's cause of death."

INITIAL: EXPLOSIVE claims have emerged this evening that Blackwater miner Nathan Turner's official autopsy results have returned a negative COVID-19 result.

Mr Turner, who had complex underlying medical conditions, was found dead in the home he shared with his fiancee Simone Devon, last week.

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The day after his death, Queensland Health released a statement to the public and the media, that Mr Turner had tested positive to COVID-19 after his death, sparking concern in Blackwater and surrounds. The state's peak health authority officially listed Mr Turner as a COVID-19 related death - the seventh in Queensland to date.

 

A supplied image obtained on Friday, May 29, 2020, of Queensland man Nathan Turner. Authorities are continuing to investigate the mysterious case of Australia's youngest coronavirus victim, who died aged 30 in the small mining town of Blackwater. (AAP Image/Supplied) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

However it is understood Mr Turner's official autopsy result was returned to his fiancee this afternoon, and it stated he had been cleared of COVID-19.

It comes after Ms Devon tested negative to the virus three times and more than 500 Blackwater residents also returned negative results.

An urgent confirmation of the negative result and a statement from Queensland Health has been requested.

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