Coronavirus: A 68-year-old Queensland man has died after contracting COVID-19 on a cruise

The ninth Australian victim of coronavirus has been confirmed after a 69-year-old Queensland man contracted the virus on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

A 68-year-old Queensland man has died of coronavirus after catching the disease on board a cruise ship that docked in Sydney last week.

Garry Kirstenfield died in the intensive care unit in Toowoomba Hospital this afternoon.

Mr Kirstenfield contracted the illness on a Princess Cruises ship. It has not been confirmed whether it was the Ruby Princess.

Queensland Health has issued a statement revealing he “had a serious underlying medical condition before contracting the virus”.

His wife remains in self-isolation along with all of his mourning family, who have described him as a “kind and adorable” man.

RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates

Mr Kirstenfield is the second Queensland victim of COVID-19, after a 77-year-old woman last week died from the virus in Sydney after a flight from the Sunshine Coast.

The woman became unwell on the flight on Friday, March 13, and was taken to hospital, but died when she could not be resuscitated.

Another elderly Queensland patient is on life support in intensive care after developing the virus, after cases in Queensland doubled in just four days from 221 on Saturday, to 443.

Yesterday, a passenger on the Ruby Princess cruise ship become Australia's eighth coronavirus fatality after testing positive to the disease last week.

The woman, aged in her 70s, was one of the first passengers from the cruise ship to be diagnosed after it docked in Sydney last Thursday.

Australia now has more than 2300 coronavirus cases after NSW reported another record increase of 211, Victoria another 55 and Queensland another 46.

Total confirmed cases, based on a tally of numbers provided by each state and territory, now stand at 2369.

As of Wednesday morning there were 1029 in NSW, 466 in Victoria, 443 in Queensland, 170 in South Australia, 175 in Western Australia, 36 in Tasmania, 44 in the Australian Capital Territory and six in the Northern Territory.

Nine people have died — one in Western Australia, seven in NSW and now one in Queensland.

In Victoria, two people are currently in intensive care – one in their 30s and one in their 60s.

More to come.