Coronavirus: Ruby Princess passenger wakes from COVID-19 coma after 18 days

A woman who was put into a coma after falling ill with coronavirus on the Ruby Princess cruise has woken to a different world.

Ms Ryder tested positive for coronavirus after holidaying on the Ruby Princess cruise ship. Picture: AAP/Dean Lewins

A Western Australian woman who spent 18 days in a coma after being diagnosed with coronavirus has emerged to find a very different world.

Mandurah mother-of-four Kiri-Lee Ryder, 41, began feeling sick while holidaying on the Ruby Princess cruise ship with her husband, son and friends.

After disembarking and returning to Perth, she then attended a virus clinic where she tested positive for COVID-19.

Hours later, doctors told Ms Ryder to say goodbye to her family as she needed to be put in an induced coma.

“I knew what was going on from the worried look on the doctor’s faces … the big words they were using,” she told Seven News.

Ms Ryder was a passenger on the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship. Picture: Nine

Over the next 18 days, coronavirus continued to sweep across the world, exploding across the United States, infecting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and locking Australians down in their homes.

Ms Ryder’s mother Carlene told Seven she spent hours sitting in the waiting room at Fiona Stanley Hospital waiting for her daughter to recover.

“I had lost hope at a point which it just goes to show miracles do happen,” she said.

Ms Ryder’s mother said she ‘lost hope’ for her daughter at one point. Picture: Nine

The mother and daughter were then reunited on Tuesday after Ms Ryder emerged from the coma and was able to leave intensive care.

“Everyone was amazed that I was alive – I was quite astounded any of that had happened,” Ms Ryder told Nine.

“Now I do understand what it meant for me to wake up … what had gone on with me medically, what had gone on with the world.”

More than 6400 cases of COVID-19 have now been confirmed in Australia and 63 people have died. The Ruby Princess has been responsible for hundreds of those cases and 19 deaths.

The ill-fated Ruby Princess has been responsible for hundreds of virus cases in Australia. Picture: Dean Lewins/AAP

The ship is now the subject of a police investigation. Picture: Nathan Patterson/NSW Police/AFP

NSW Police have launched a criminal investigation to examine what happened when the ship docked at Sydney Harbour on March 19 and about 2700 passengers were allowed to freely disembark at Circular Quay.

But that investigation could take months, with NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller saying police may have 2500 witnesses to speak to.

Mr Ryder has meanwhile urged Australians to do the right thing.

“It’s quite surreal knowing I’m one of the statistics on the good side,” she told Seven.