Chief Health Officer confirms Blackwater miner tested negative to COVID-19

Queensland's Chief Health Officer has confirmed Blackwater miner Nathan Turner tested negative to COVID-19.

QUEENSLAND's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has confirmed Blackwater miner Nathan Turner tested negative to COVID-19 during an autopsy. 

In a statement issued Monday night, Dr Young said further tests had revealed the negative result. 

Moving candlelight memorial for Blackwater COVID victim

"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."

Nathan Turner.

It comes after News Corp reported the negative result earlier in the day. 

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

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.

However Mr Turner's official autopsy result was returned to his fiancee Monday 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.

There was also a candlelight memorial in Blackwater for Mr Turner after his 'COVID-19 death' was reported and controversy surrounding how he may have contracted the virus.

Originally published as Chief Health Officer confirms Blackwater miner tested negative to COVID-19