Perth man dies of virus as new cases found
An elderly Perth man has become the first person in Australia to die from the coronavirus, while four people who recently returned from Iran have been confirmed as the latest to test positive for the disease.
The 78-year-old man, identified as James Kwan in media reports, and his wife had been flown to Perth from the quarantine facility at Howard Springs near Darwin.
They had earlier been evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship which had docked in Japan after an outbreak.
He "passed away peacefully knowing his family loved him", his wife said in a statement, at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Morrison government has a national coronavirus plan with health authorities anticipating more cases.
"With the international spread of this virus, it is almost inevitable that we will see more cases of COVID-19 in Australia in coming weeks," he said in a statement on Sunday.
In a further effort to prevent the spread of the virus, the government announced on Saturday that foreign nationals who have been in Iran will be banned from entering Australia for 14 days.
Four new virus cases were confirmed on the weekend in people returning from Iran, before the ban was imposed.
NSW health authorities confirmed the state's fifth and six cases as a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s who both returned to Sydney from Iran. The two cases are not connected, and they arrived on different days.
New cases in Victoria and Queensland also came from Iran.
A Victorian woman was confirmed as testing positive on Sunday after landing in Melbourne on Friday.
In Queensland, a 63-year-old Gold Coast beautician was confirmed as having the virus on Saturday after she arrived on Monday.
"We are particularly concerned about Iran at the moment,' Chief Medical Officer of Australia Professor Brendan Murphy said.
"It would seem to be the highest risk outside of China and cases from Iran have been exported to a number of countries."
Australian Associated Press