Coronavirus Australia live updates: Sixth death at NSW aged care home

Australia recorded another "heartbreaking" death from the coronavirus this evening, taking the outbreak's death toll past 40.

Frank Chung and Megan Palin

less than 2 min read

April 5, 2020 - 9:42PM

Coronavirus: Is this what the next 3 months look like for Australia?

A nursing home in Sydney has suffered its sixth coronavirus death.

The victim is a 90-year-old man, from the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care centre. He is the sixth resident of the facility to die from the virus. In total, 16 residents and five staff members have been infected.

“I have been on the phone this afternoon with the resident’s family, and I grieve with them in their loss. Our residents are not just numbers; they are beloved individuals in our care and the very reason we exist,” said Ross Low, CEO of BaptistCare, in a statement.

“It is nothing short of heartbreaking to have another resident lose their life to this virus.

“Our care staff and those who are part of Dorothy Henderson Lodge are doing their very best caring for our residents as they would their own family."

RELATED: Follow more coronavirus news

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia is now at 5800.

There are 2637 cases in NSW, 1158 in Victoria, 921 in Queensland, 460 in Western Australia, 411 in South Australia, 96 in the Australian Capital Territory, 89 in Tasmania and 28 in the Northern Territory.

The national death toll stands at 41.

Follow our rolling coverage below.

Updates

'Against the law': Blunt message for drivers

Earlier we mentioned that 17-year-old learner driver in Victoria who copped a $1600 fine. The state's Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Patton had a pretty blunt message on that subject today.

“The Chief Health Officer has stated that taking driving lessons is not one of those exemptions, so you can’t be out doing it,” he said.

“Although we are satisfied that that was a lawfully issued infringement, I’ve spoken with the Assistant Commissioner of the region and in conjunction with the member we’ll be looking at whether discretion should or could be applied to these circumstances.

“It can be, but whether it is appropriate. All of those circumstances will be taken into account and whether a withdrawal occurs will be determined in due course.”

He said while he didn’t know “the exact details” of the case, he defended Victoria Police’s actions by claiming “this isn’t driving around the corner, I think it was driving 40 minutes”.

“Are we able to send a message to the public without having to fine in this circumstance? I think the fact it’s been raised has given actual clarity to the circumstance so it’s quite possible to be withdrawn because the public is now aware they can’t be doing that activity unless it’s mixed in with driving to the shops, where you are exempt to go buy food, those sorts of things.

“You can’t have a direct driving lesson, the only way you could potentially have any driving practice is if you’re applying one of those exemptions that exist for you to go up to the shops to buy food and supplies.

“Going to work, education are also exempted. If you are going to one of those activities that are exempted you could potentially take your child to one of those, you cannot go out and go driving 40 minutes away.

“It’s against the law."

Death toll rises to 41

A 90-year-old man from the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care centre in NSW has died, bringing the national death toll to 41.

He is the sixth resident of the facility to die from the coronavirus. In total, 16 residents and five staff members have been infected.

“It is nothing short of heartbreaking to have another resident lose their life to this virus.

“Our care staff and those who are part of Dorothy Henderson Lodge are doing their very best caring for our residents as they would their own family.

“We know that the residents and their families are struggling with the isolation measures in place, and they are missing each other terribly, but these containment measures are now more important than ever,” he said.

“The experts we are working with at NSW Health, and our team, remain committed to doing all we can to fight this virus and protect our residents and our people.”

Frontline health worker dies

The Age reports that another of yesterday&#x27;s coronavirus victims, a 54-year-old man, was a frontline health worker named Sumith Premachandra.

"He was on the frontline as healthcare worker, as a disability nurse and he loved his work," said Mr Premachandra's daughter Sharyn.

"He leaves behind a beautiful wife, a beautiful ex-wife, two loving daughters, two devoted sons-in-law and two gorgeous grandsons.

"Our lives will never be the same."

Victim was Ruby Princess passenger

AAP reports the 84-year-old man who died in Western Australia overnight was a passenger on the Ruby Princess.

That brings the tally of passengers who have died to 12.

'I nearly died': Infected woman's fury

A hire car driver who picked up a passenger from the Ruby Princess has spoken from her hospital bed after contracting COVID-19, saying she “nearly died” after driving a cruise passenger home.

The driver who picked up a passenger named Helen from the Ruby Princess in Sydney last month is now in hospital being treated for coronavirus at Nepean Hospital. She said she’s had severe symptoms and came close to death after driving the passenger to her home after she disembarked the cruise ship last month, according to 9 News.

The Ruby Princess cruise ship disembarked passengers in Sydney on March 19, an incident which is now being investigated by the NSW Police and homicide detectives.

The incident has been linked with more than 600 cases of COVID-19 around the country, and 12 deaths.

The driver, Julie Lamrock, contracted the virus from her passenger as she drove her from the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney’s Circular Quay to Campbelltown in western Sydney.

Ms Lamrock said the trip took one hour, and the pair hardly came into contact. She said her passenger further assured her she was well and there had been no reports of illness on the ship.

“I can’t breathe properly, I’m having the hot sweats,” driver Julie Lamrock said from her bed in Nepean hospital, where she is being treated for COVID-19.

“After picking her up, and taking her home, and looking after her, I nearly died,” Ms Lamrock said.

“It’s incredible the government let them come off that ship and let other people get sick.”

#EXCLUSIVE: A hire car driver who picked up one of the passengers from the Ruby Princess has lashed out from her hospital bed, furious they were allowed off the cruise ship. @DamoNews #COVID19 #9News pic.twitter.com/SrCicLUjah
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) April 6, 2020

NSW Police address confusion around travel

NSW Police have addressed confusion over what is and isn't allowed under strict new social distancing rules.

One of the main questions being posed is whether taking a learner driver for a lesson would be considered a "reasonable excuse" to leave the house.

"A reasonable excuse includes travelling for the purposes of work where you cannot work from home, so driving instructors can leave their house for their work – to teach people how to drive," NSW Police said in a statement.

"We consider that it would be a reasonable excuse for a person to leave their house to receive driving lessons (either from a driving instructor or a member of their family), given that this is a learning activity that cannot be done from home and is akin to the listed reasonable excuse of travelling to attend an educational institution where you cannot learn from home.

"Learner drivers could also continue to drive with a supervising family member for any of the listed reasonable excuses for leaving the house – for example, driving to the supermarket."

This comes after a 17-year-old learner driver copped a $1652 fine in Victoria for going on a driving lesson with her mum over the weekend.

Qantas crew test positive for coronavirus

Four Qantas crew members who worked on a flight from Chile to Sydney have contracted COVID-19 after being allowed to go home without being quarantined, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The flight landed in Sydney on March 29, with passengers taken to hotels to complete 14 days of mandatory quarantine under new rules brought in by the Federal Government.

However, crew members were not required to undergo this quarantine period and were instead allowed to return home after being granted an exemption.

The SMH has reported that since then four of those crew members have tested positive for the virus, raising concerns about how airline crew members could risk spreading the illness.

News.com.au has contacted Qantas for comment.

Two new cases in SA

Two more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in South Australia, bringing the state's total to 411.

Of those cases 20 people have been hospitalised and 53 people have recovered.

NSW Police issue 15 virus related infringements

NSW Police have issued 15 more COVID-19 related infringements. Here is a rundown on some of the penalties issued.

– On March 22 a 65-year-old woman returned to Sydney on a flight from Indonesia and was given a direction to self-isolate at home. At about 3pm last Tuesday police received information the woman had entered a shopping centre at Grafton.

Two hours later, at about 5pm, police located the woman in her car. She told officers she had been to seven separate retail stores that day, including the supermarket.

The woman was directed to return home immediately and was issued with a $1000 fine.

– At about 2.15am yesterday officers were conducting patrols of the North Nowra area when they located a vehicle parked near bushland.

As police approached, four women were sighted in the vehicle, including three who were lying down in the backseat.

The women told police they had been at a party but had been asked to leave. They were each issued with a $1000 fine.

– Just before 11am yesterday, a 32-year-old male and 31-year-old female were observed by officers to have left their homes at South Kempsey without reasonable excuse.

Police issued a warning to both individuals to return to their homes. Later in the day, about 1.45pm, police observed the male and the female in a vehicle nearby.

When asked by police why they had not complied with direction, the male advised police they were ‘bored’. Both were issued with $1000 fines.

'Not in the same situation as the US'

Australia is not in the same situation as the US at the moment, Professor Kelly has said.

"We must remember it is a terrible and tragic scene we are seeing in many parts of the US now in terms of the sheer numbers of cases that they are dealing with," he said.

"Keeping up with that would be extraordinarily difficult. We are not in that situation in Australia.

"The things that we have done in the past weeks to prevent ourselves going into that situation have been successful up till now and we have two redouble our efforts to make sure that doesn't happen into the future."

He said there was a "possibility" that COVID-19 related deaths could be missed.

"But we do know that we are being very clear and careful to anyone who is seeking hospitalisation for pneumonia, severe pneumonia without any other obvious cause, that they are being tested. If they were to die and it was in hospital, we would know that," he said.

Picture: Gary Ramage

Prof Kelly said there is a delay between cases and deaths as people tend to get sicker in the second week of having the virus.

"Unfortunately, people tend to get sicker in their second week, the ones that have the very severe disease," he said.

"But we're not going to see a lot of deaths from a few weeks ago at this stage.

"We are continuing to see around about the same number of cases each day with a little bit less, but we are going to continue to see cases over. The peak in terms of the daily cases was last week or the week before at the moment.

"Whether that is the final peak, I can't really say at this stage."