Coronavirus Australia: Three-quarters of deaths linked to cruise ships, aged care home and hospitals

The majority of Australia’s COVID-19 deaths can be linked back to just two sources – cruise ships and an aged care home – while another three were infected in hospital.

As the coronavirus death toll hit 21 in Australia overnight, it has been shown the majority of infections for those who have died can be linked back to just two sources – cruise ships and an aged care home.

Another three of those who have died were infected while in hospital.

Last night a NSW grandmother died at Orange Base Hospital – the 21st death in Australia. She was the sixth Ruby Princess passenger to die and the first NSW death outside of Sydney.

Of Australia’s death total, nine people had recently gotten off cruise ships including the Ruby Princess, which has become a major source of community infection with more than 200 passengers testing positive since disembarking.

Five were residents of Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Sydney’s Macquarie Park, where an outbreak began in early March after a staff member who had no overseas travel history was diagnosed with the disease.

Two were patients in the oncology and ­haematology ward at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, while one contracted the virus after having close contact with another confirmed case at Ryde Hospital in Sydney.

Australia’s first fatality on March 1 was James Kwan, a 78-year-old Perth man who contracted coronavirus on the stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. He was among 163 Australians evacuated and quarantined at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, which is where he fell ill.

Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Macquarie Park, Sydney. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

The first Ruby Princess death was a 77-year-old woman who was rushed to hospital after disembarking the ship in Sydney on March 19. She died on Tuesday morning, March 24.

Four other Ruby Princess passengers died a few days later – a 75-year-old Queensland woman, two women in their 80s, one in Tasmania and one in the ACT, followed by another man in his 80s in Tasmania.

Another cruise passenger, Garry Kirstenfeldt, died at Toowoomba Hospital on March 25 after returning from Sydney. The 68-year-old had been on the Voyager of the Seas, which docked 11 days earlier.

Ray Daniels died in Joondalalup Hospital in Perth on March 26, six days after arriving back in Sydney on board the Celebrity ­Solstice. The 73-year-old had no symptoms when he disembarked but was rushed to hospital after falling ill, vomiting several times before collapsing in his home.

The first Dorothy Henderson Lodge victim was a 95-year-old woman who died on March 3. Four other residents later died – an 82-year-old man and three women aged 90, 91 and 95.

The source of infection for the remaining coronavirus deaths is either unclear or has not been disclosed by health authorities.

Australia now has nearly 5000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with around 42 in intensive care.