Coronavirus: Queensland relaxes two-person rule as cruise passenger dies

Queensland has relaxed the ‘two-person’ rule for private homes, as the state recorded its fourth coronavirus fatality.

Des Williams is Queensland’s fourth coronavirus fatality.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has relaxed the “two-person” rule for private homes, as the state recorded its fourth corona­virus fatality and prepared to tighten its border closure.

An 85-year-old man, who was a passenger on the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship, became the latest Queenslander to die of the virus, one of 74 positive cases in Queensland traced to the vessel.

Des Williams, 85, who died at Toowoomba Hospital, has been remembered by his family as a gentle giant. “Des was a beautiful man who saw the best in every person­ and gave so much of his time to each and every one of us,” relative Jacqui Blackburn said.

“The news is reporting that an elderly man passed away, but while Des was 85, he had the health and strength of a 75-year-old. I wish they wouldn’t say he was elderly because he was nothing­ like that.”

“He would spend most of his days in the garden tending to his plants and his garden.

“He had a double knee reconstruction a couple of years ago and came out with no pain whatsoever. And recovered like a champion.”

Mr Williams and his wife Bev were among more than 2700 passengers allowed to disembark the Ruby Princess in Sydney while coronavirus tests were pending.

About 440 passengers from the ship have since tested positive, and at least seven have died: two in Tasmania, two in NSW, one in the ACT and two in Queensland.

“Unfortunately, Des was a passenger on the Ruby Princess and contracted the coronavirus. This horrible virus got the better of him,” Ms Blackburn said.

Mr Williams and his wife were on their 11th cruise together in 23 years of marriage. “He was a loving family man who loved his plants and his church,” stepson Craig Blackburn said.

“You wouldn’t pick him as 85, as he was very healthy. He had a lot of life left in him.”

Three of Queensland’s four deaths have been cruise passengers, and 25 of Queensland’s corona­virus cases originated on the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship.

A Toowoomba retirement village­ was grappling yesterday with the coronavirus diagnosis of one of its residents, after a holiday on the Sea Princess cruise ship.

Queensland’s COVID-19 cases rose by 57 to 835, but Health Minister Steven Miles insisted the increase­ represented an “ongoing stabilisation” of the number of new cases in the state.

Sixty people are being treated in hospital, nine are in intensive care, and eight of those have required ventilation.

Ms Palaszczuk announced on Thursday a relaxation of the “two-person” rule inside homes.

“No house parties,” she said. “But if there are one or two extra people who come into your house, that’s not breaching the law.

“(If you have) two adult ­children who want to come and visit you, we think we should be flexible.”