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'Horrible mistakes': COVID-19 spread to 62 people beyond Ruby Princess passengers
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has apologised for NSW Health's serious mistakes after it was revealed 62 people contracted COVID-19 from the Ruby Princess cruise ship despite never being on board.
Ms Berejiklian apologised "unreservedly" on Monday to the dozens of people who became sick - including some who became critically ill - even though they were not passengers or close contacts of travellers.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, pictured with Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant, apologised to the 62 people who contracted COVID-19 from the Ruby Princess - despite not setting foot on board.Credit: James Brickwood
"We have learned so much since those horrible mistakes and as the Premier I want to apologise to anybody, especially those 62 individuals, who got the virus as a secondary or tertiary contact because of the way in which those passengers disembarked the ship," Ms Berejiklian said.
She said her apology also extended to anyone who "continues to suffer loss and trauma and angst and health concerns as a result of those mistakes".
Ms Berejiklian made her first public comments on the report by Bret Walker, SC, who oversaw the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess. He delivered a 320-page report on Friday.
Mr Walker's report was highly critical of NSW Health, finding the department made serious, inexcusable and inexplicable mistakes in the cruise ship debacle.
On March 19, 2647 Ruby Princess passengers were allowed to disembark at Circular Quay and travel home, but within 24 hours three COVID-19 tests performed aboard had returned positive.
In the weeks that followed, 712 passengers and 202 crew tested positive and 22 people died.
The report revealed, for the first time, the number of people who were also infected despite never setting foot on the troubled ship.
Mr Walker's report said it "must also be recognised that the reach of COVID-19 from the Ruby Princess extended beyond the passenger population of the ship".
"The commission has confirmed that in Australia, there have been 62 reported secondary and tertiary cases of COVID-19 from the Ruby Princess," the report says. "This included multiple cases of COVID-19 reported from transport workers assisting passengers at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on the morning of March 19, 2020 - at least one of whom became critically ill from the disease."
The Ruby Princess cruise ship in Circular Quay in March. Credit: Kate Geraghty
Mr Walker also said an interim report in April into the COVID-19 outbreak at North West Regional Hospital in Tasmania found that the original source of the then 114 reported cases was "most likely to have been one (or both) of two inpatients who were admitted to the NWRH with COVID-19 acquired on … the Ruby Princess".
The Tasmanian Health Minister Sarah Courtney later told the NSW commission of inquiry that there had been 138 confirmed cases associated with the outbreak, including 10 deaths, the report said.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said that the health officials involved in the Ruby Princess "were under immense stress" when the ship docked in Sydney.
"At that time we were dealing with significant case numbers, a large number of locally-acquired cases, there were outbreaks in a number of settings. It was a very, very busy time," Dr Chant said.
She said the health officials had acknowledged that, on reflection, they would have made different decisions and she was not excusing their mistakes.
"My thoughts are with the public health officials as they are with the community, and it has had a toll on those individuals," she said.
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay praised Ms Berejiklian for her apology.
"I welcome the Premier’s decision to make an unreserved apology. It was the right thing to do," Ms McKay said.