Coronavirus: US man Steven Lazarus first overseas death linked to Ruby Princess

Californian man who travelled on the Ruby Princess has died of COVID-19 complications, the first international fatality traced to the stricken cruise ship.

The Ruby Princess berthed in Port Kembla, south of Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Simon Bullard

A Californian man who travelled on the Ruby Princess has died of COVID-19 complications, the first international fatality traced to the stricken cruise ship.

Steven Lazarus, 76, died on April 9 after developing symptoms on his return to the US, family said.

The ABC reported he had been a passenger on the Ruby Princess.

“He was the rock of our family, someone who I relied on for advice and who never steered me wrong,” said son Michael Lazarus in series of tributes posted on Twitter.

Dr Lazarus’s wife, Elissa, also tested positive but has not shown any symptoms, Mr Lazarus said.

“It pains my family deeply that we cannot comfort her like we should be able to and she has to deal with losing the love of her life on her own,” he wrote.

Dr Lazarus’s death takes the death toll from the ship to 20.

Homicide detectives are continuing to examine the circumstances of the ship’s arrival into Sydney on March 19, which led to nearly 2700 passengers being dispersed through the community without COVID-19 testing having been completed.

More than 600 infections have been recorded across the country; nationally there have been 19 deaths linked to the ship, which remains docked at Port Kembla with 1056 crew members on board.

It is due to leave NSW territorial waters in the coming days.

NSW Health confirmed on Thursday that 149 people had tested positive on the ship, but its testing regime — limited to those showing symptoms — would be expanded to encompass all 1056 crew quarantined in cabins.

In a statement, a spokesman said testing would be expanded to include those who were asymptomatic and who had not been tested, to establish whether they were “developing immunity”.

“Over the next 48 hours, we expect all crew who have yet to be tested — as they are currently ­asymptomatic — to have been tested for COVID-19,” he said.

Until Thursday, testing of the crew on board was focused on those with symptoms or those who had contracted the disease but no longer showed symptoms. The spokesman said virus transmission had been evident but rate of infection appeared to be slowing.

The Australian revealed this week that up until last Saturday, meals were being prepared for crew inside the ship’s galley, identified by health officials as a potential epicentre for the coronavirus outbreak on board. Food has since been sourced from a provider on shore and, according to the spokesman, was being “distributed on board by people in personal protective equipment”.

The Ruby Princess was one of nine cruise ships marooned off the NSW coast in March after the federal government issued an order to shut the nation’s ports. Due to its high number of unwell crew, it was granted permission to dock at Port Kembla to undergo an independent medical assessment.

NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller has set a deadline of Sunday for the ship to leave Australia and return to the US. But on Thursday he clarified this was an “aspirational deadline”, and he hoped the various stakeholders would work towards meeting it.

As part of their investigation, detectives are moving to interview not just passengers who arrived on March 19 but also those who travelled on the ship between February 24 and March 8 into Sydney, The Australian has learned.

They are seeking to determine if the virus — possibly contracted by a crew member — was already circulating on the ship when it left Sydney for New Zealand on March 8.