Coronavirus Australia: Dubbo man first Indigenous Covid-19 death as NSW records 1290 cases, four deaths

A man in his 50s is understood to be Australia’s first Indigenous person to have died from coronavirus.

A medical staffer works at a Covid-19 test centre set up in Dubbo as the Delta outbreak hit regional areas. Picture: Belinda Soole/Getty Images

An Aboriginal man in his 50s is the first Indigenous Australian to die from Covid-19.

The man from a large and prominent Dubbo family was among several Aboriginal people with Covid-19 treated in Dubbo hospital since the virus was confirmed to have reached western New South Wales on August 11. He died in the past 24 hours.

The majority of people infected with Covid-19 in western NSW are Indigenous.

The man’s death was also the first in regional NSW.

Aboriginal people were prioritised in the Covid-19 vaccine rollout that began in March because of their known vulnerabilities including a higher incidence of diabetes and heart and lung disease.

However the vaccine rollout to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was significantly delayed and disrupted in part because of shifting advice about AstraZeneca, the vaccine supplied to Aboriginal medical services across Australia.

The commonwealth, Aboriginal medical health services and the Royal Flying Doctor Service obtained steady supplies of Pfizer in late June and had begun vaccinating Indigenous people in regional and remote areas of western NSW when Covid-19 reached Walgett and Dubbo. Fewer than one in 10 Aboriginal people over the age of 16 in western NSW were fully vaccinated at the time.

CEO of Western NSW LHD Scott McLachlan offered his condolences to the family of the man, and said the death reiterated the importance of vaccination.

“It is a very sad day today for Dubbo and all of the region,” he told a local press conference.

“We know that people will die if the vaccines do not get into arms.”

“This is the time for us all to get the jab.”

A total of 51 new cases were detected in western NSW on Monday.

Thirty-three were in Dubbo, four in Bourke, five in Bathurst, one in Narromine, one in Blayney, one in Brewarrina. two in Forbes, two in Orange and two in Parkes.

NSW reported four new deaths on Monday including the Dubbo man, who chief health officer Kerry Chant said the increasing cases threatening Indigenous communities was a major concern.

“Any death is tragic and we are particularly concerned about the case numbers in far west and western New South Wales because of the over-representation of Aboriginal people and the likelihood that Covid will be, and is, touching Aboriginal people disproportionately,” she said.

“There are very strong vaccination efforts in those local communities and I call upon all community leaders to encourage high uptake and I have been pleased that some of the towns have had incredible uptake.”

So far, there have been 93 deaths linked to the virus in NSW since June 16, and 149 in total since the start of the pandemic.

NSW recorded 1290 new infections on Monday.

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