Australia’s coronavirus toll: Covid-19 related deaths across the country
The Australian death toll from Covid-19 related illnesses stands at 18, as of 30 March. This story will be updated as further deaths are confirmed.
Western Australia (2)
James Kwan, 78, Perth
James Kwan was the first person in Australia to die after being diagnosed with Covid-19. The 78-year-old Perth man was a passenger on board the Dimond Princess, a cruise ship that was forced to quarantine in the Japanese port of Yokohama in February.
He and his wife were among the 150 Australians who were isolated on board.
He was transported home to Australia on a government-chartered Qantas flight and was diagnosed while isolating in Howard Springs, Northern Territory. He was then moved to a Perth hospital where died in the early hours of 1 March.
Kwan has been remembered as a tourism pioneer, establishing Perth’s first inbound tourism company, WelTravel in 1988. He was a founding member of the Western Australian Tour Operators Association, now known as the Australian Tourism Export Council.
Ray Daniels, 73, Perth
On 26 March a second WA man, Ray Daniels died at the Joondalup Health Campus after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
“We as a family are completely devastated by the sudden death of our father, husband and grandfather. He was a very fit, healthy and active man with no known underlying health issues. He showed no real significant signs of being unwell until he collapsed at home on Wednesday morning. He died within 48 hours,” his family said in a statement.
“Clearly this virus does not discriminate and we never believed for one second that it would take him from us.”
He disembarked from the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship in Sydney earlier in the week.
Queensland (2)
Garry Kirstenfeldt, 68, Toowoomba Garry Kirstenfeldt is so far the youngest person in Australia to die after testing positive to Covid-19. He was the second Queensland victim, and the first to die in Queensland.
The 68-year-old died on 25 March in Toowoomba, after recently disembarking from the Voyager of the Seas cruise ship in Sydney.
His family say he was an avid traveller.
“Our father was a man with much more life in him,” his children said in a statement.
“He had been on 16 cruise ships and loved to relax with family or worry about activities to keep us entertained … We never expected his 17th cruise to be his last or no one to be at his side for the last moments of his life. As his family, this was the first time he had been in hospital and we were not at his side.”
The Queensland Department of Health said he had a serious underlying medical condition before contracting the virus
His wife Jennifer and other members of his family are now in self-isolation.
Unnamed
A 75-year-old woman who was a passenger on the Ruby Princess died on 29 March at Caboolture hospital. New South Wales (8)
The Dorothy Henderson Lodge cluster
Four NSW Covid-19 deaths were elderly residents of the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care facility in Macquarie Park. A 95-year-old woman died on 3 March, followed by an 82-year-old man on 9 March, a 90-year-old woman on 14 March and a 91-year-old woman on 28 March.
A number of other residents and staff members have tested positive for Covid-19.
Ruby Princess
On 24 March a woman in her 70s died after disembarking from the Ruby Princess earlier in the week. She was transported directly to the hospital from the ship.
The NSW Health Department said she was one of the initial three passengers who were confirmed to have tested positive on board the ship.
At least 162 Covid-19 cases have been associated with the cruise in NSW alone.
Other NSW Covid-19 related deaths include an 86-year-old man on 18 March and an 81-year-old woman on 20 March.
Unnamed
A 77-year-old woman from the Sunshine Coast died after her health deteriorated on a flight to Sydney on 13 March. She was taken to a Sydney hospital but could not be resuscitated. It was later confirmed she had Covid-19. She is believed to have had an underlying medical condition.
Victoria (4)
Three men, all in their 70s, died on 26 March after being diagnosed with Covid-19. The death of a fourth man, in his 80s, was reported on 29 March. Tasmania (1)
On the morning of 30 March, Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein confirmed the state’s first death, a woman in her 80s, who died in the North West Regional hospital in Burnie.
ACT (1)
A woman in her 80s became the territory’s first fatality on 30 March. She had caught the infection overseas, the ACT’s chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, reported.
Australians overseas
A 36-year-old Australian man diagnosed with Covid-19 died in Iceland.
However, doctors said the man’s symptoms were atypical and although he had the illness they were continuing to investigate the cause of his death