Coronavirus: Canberra records first death

An elderly Canberra woman died of coronavirus over the weekend, ACT authorities announced on Monday.

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A Canberra woman in her 80s has died of coronavirus.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Monday confirmed the woman died at the Canberra Hospital over the weekend after becoming infected overseas.

“On behalf of the government I want to pass on sincerest condolences and love to her family and friends in this difficult time,” Mr Barr said

“I also want to thank and sincerely thank the doctors and nurses at Canberra Hospital who were so dedicated in their care.”

The woman, who is the first to die of the virus in the ACT, had a pre-existing medical condition which made her susceptible to the effects of the virus.

Her death comes as governments around Australia have urged everyone older than 70 should stay at home.

The Canberra Hospital. Picture: Supplied

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith also expressed her deepest sympathies to the dead woman’s family and friends on behalf of the ACT government and all Canberra residents.

“As the chief minister has said, a tragic reminder of just how serious this situation is,” she said.

Ms Stephen-Smith said the ACT was not immune from the tragedies seen interstate.

Since Sunday, there had been a single new confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canberra, which was linked to overseas travel.

Ms Stephen-Smith said it was “inevitable” there would be cases of “community transmission” in Canberra, as opposed to people who became infected overseas or who caught the disease from someone who travelled overseas.

Six of the 78 people with the virus were in hospital on Monday, Mr Stephen-Smith.

Two of those six patients were in intensive care.

It was unclear why the ACT government, which has routinely made less information public than authorities interstate, delayed publicly announcing the weekend’s tragedy.

Ms Stephen-Smith declined to answer many of the basic questions she was asked by reporters at a daily briefing on Monday, including whether the woman had been on a cruise ship.

She said: “We’re not going to go into detail in relation to that”.

She said the woman had pre-existing medical conditions, but declined to say what they were.

“We really don’t want to release details in relation to this individual,” she said.

ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the ACT “may well see a spike” of cases, and that there was no way now to stop it spreading among the community.

“Our aim now is to minimise that spread as much as we possible can,” she said.