Grim milestone as national coronavirus death toll hits 100

Australia has reached a tragic milestone in its bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, recording its 100th coronavirus death.

Alice Bacon, 93, was the 17th person to die at the Newmarch House aged-care home in western Sydney due to COVID-19.

Australia has reached a tragic milestone in its bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, recording its 100th coronavirus death on Tuesday afternoon.

Alice Bacon, 93, was the 19th person to die at the Newmarch House aged-care home in western Sydney since the outbreak began, and the 17th resident to die of the coronavirus.

COVID-19 claimed its first Australian victim on March 1 when James Kwan, 78, died in Perth. He had been on the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan while holidaying with his wife Theresa.

The tourism pioneer died from the infection at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth after spending several days in the intensive care ward. He would be the first of many cruise ship passengers to die from the virus in Australia, and his death came just seven days before the doomed Ruby Princess set sail from Sydney on March 8. At least 28 deaths across the country were of passengers or crew on cruise ships, and at least 27 were residents in aged-care facilities.

Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist at the University of NSW and an adviser to the World Health Organisation, said Ms Bacon’s death was another “sober reminder” of how dangerous COVID-19 was, particularly for the elderly.

“Cruise ships and aged-care ­facilities are really where Australia has dropped the ball,” Professor McLaws said. “Without those ­outbreaks, Australia’s death rate would obviously be far lower.”

Together with the 20 people who died after being aboard the Ruby Princess — the nation’s most deadly COVID-19 cluster — 39 deaths have come from the cruise ship and Newmarch House residents combined — more than a third of the total.

“We are still in the active phase and we may never reach zero cases,” Professor Mc­Laws said. “Still, we’ve done very well because the government acted fast and the states focused on testing as many people as possible.”

 

 

A 42-year-old crew member on the Artania cruise ship who died on April 17 is the youngest person to succumb to the virus in Australia. The man was a national of The Philippines who passed away at Royal Perth Hospital and was one of four deaths linked to the liner.

A total of nine people have died from COVID-19 in Western Australia, significantly less than NSW’s 47, Victoria’s 18 and Tasmania’s 13. The Northern Territory is Australia’s only jurisdiction to record zero deaths.

Thirty-four of the 100 were people in their 70s, 33 were in their 80s, and 20 in their 90s, with just 13 of the total number of deaths to occur around the country being victims aged between 40 and 70.

Australia’s toll reached 100 ­exactly 115 days after its first case of COVID-19 was recorded.

Professor McLaws said the number of new cases in Australia initially grew sharply, then levelled out at about 350 a day around March 22, and started falling at the beginning of April to fewer than 20 a day by the end of April.

 

“We avoided a surge because we started preparing a response on January 30, and there’s no doubt we’ve been extremely fortunate when compared to countries such as the US, UK and Italy,” she said.

“In New York, young people in their 30s, 40s and 50s are dying of strokes — the situation is quite catastrophic.”

The daughter of Australia’s 100th COVID-19 victim, Mary Watson, paid tribute to her mother in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“We are all devastated by the loss of our mum and she will be greatly missed by us and all those whose lives she touched,” she wrote. “Mum fought hard to stay with us … up until two weeks ago she was a happy and busy lady inside and outside of Newmarch.”

 

Ms Watson said her 93-year-old mother tested positive on day 10 of the nursing home’s lockdown, which began in mid-April.

There have been 71 infections linked to the nursing home — 34 staff and 37 residents — since the outbreak emerged on April 11. A statement released by operator Anglicare Sydney on Tuesday said there had been no new cases at the home since April 30.