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A 95-year-old woman has become the second person to die from the coronavirus in Australia, with six more cases confirmed in New South Wales on Wednesday.
The woman was a resident at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge nursing home facility at Macquarie Park, where a 50-year-old worker was diagnosed with the virus earlier this week, NSW Health confirmed in a statement. The woman died in hospital on Tuesday.
The employee worked with 13 residents at the lodge. An 82-year-old man is now being treated in hospital for the virus, while a third resident aged in her 70s was also diagnosed on Wednesday, news.com.au reported.
The carer was working at Dorothy Henderson Lodge. Photo / Supplied
The five other new cases include a female doctor who works at Liverpool Hospital, a female patient from the Northern Beaches, a male from Cronulla and a female who is believed to have returned from the Philippines, NSW Health said.
New Zealand currently has three confirmed cases, with a fresh case confirmed this morning.
"The female doctor who was diagnosed on March 4 had no history of overseas travel. We are immediately establishing which staff and patients may need to self-isolate and be tested for COVID-19 should they be unwell," NSW Health added.
The woman who is believed to have travelled from the Philippines is in her 60s and arrived back in Australia on March 3.
"Her travel details are being obtained and will be disclosed if she posed a risk to any other passengers on her flight," NSW Health said.
'WE CAN'T TRACK THE SOURCE'
Addressing the nursing home cases on Wednesday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the carer was working on February 24 when she started developing flu-like symptoms.
"And so we did the checks. And, of course, we're aware that it's likely that she could have been capable of passing on the coronavirus from at least the day before, 24 hours, so that's 23 February," he said.
He said the woman was a "much-loved" and longstanding member of staff at a residential care home which is part of Baptist Care.
"It is concerning when we have somebody present with coronavirus and we can't track the source," Hazzard said.
"In this case, this much-loved staff member had not travelled. She had not been overseas. She had not been to any of the hot spots around the world. So, that raises the question, how did she end up with coronavirus?"
This comes amid fears a Sydney doctor may have spread the coronavirus to a large number of patients.
So far death rates from the virus have been highest among elderly people. Photo / AP
Forty staff members who work closely with the 53-year-old male doctor at Ryde Hospital have been isolated.
They include 13 doctors, 23 nurses and four other health workers. The infected doctor is in a stable condition at Westmead Hospital.
However, authorities say the doctor had already come into contact with a "large and diverse" range of patients in his workplace.
"We still don't know how he acquired the infection,'' chief health officer Kerry Chant said.
"We are doing an investigation as we speak. He did not care for any of our positive cases but we are doing some additional investigations into what patients he saw, to see whether there were any undiagnosed cases."
"LACK OF RESPONSIVENESS"
The aged care sector in New Zealand is urgently asking health authorities to coordinate a national response to the coronavirus threat.
Rest homes and retirement villages could be especially vulnerable in the event of an outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, with large groups of elderly and possibly unwell people living in close proximity.
So far death rates from the virus have been highest among elderly people. According to China's Centre for Disease Control, of those aged 60-69 who were infected, 3.6 per cent have died. For people aged 70-79 it's 8 per cent, and for those aged 80+ it's 14.8 per cent.
The New Zealand Aged Care Association and the Retirement Village Association say they have asked for meetings to talk about a national, coordinated response to Covid-19 and look at supplies of critical medical and safety equipment.
But they say they are "frustrated" by a "lack of responsiveness" from the Government and DHBs.
"Covid-19 is known to afflict older people more than any other cohort. There have already been outbreaks in overseas rest homes and this shows the need for aged care providers and DHBs to work together in a nationally co-ordinated response," New Zealand Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace said in a statement earlier this week.
On Saturday, the World Health Organisation advised people over 60 or with long-term illnesses to avoid crowded places to reduce the risk of catching the coronavirus.
To reduce your risk from the new #coronavirus infection:
-if you are sick, stay at home; eat & sleep separately from your family; use different utensils & cutlery to eat -if you develop shortness of breath, call your doctor & seek care immediately
In New Zealand, providers were prepared for normal outbreaks such as the flu and norovirus, but Covid-19 could be on a bigger scale. That meant more staff and supplies could be needed, Wallace said.
The aged care sector could be part of the solution by caring for infected residents and preventing pressure on hospitals, he said.
Retirement Villages Association executive director John Collyns said there was no evidence of a nationally coordinated response - and if it existed, the association was "extremely disappointed" that it hadn't been consulted.
The two groups have formed a taskforce to work with the Government and health authorities.
The sector says more than 38,000 people live in aged residential care in New Zealand, and another 43,000 live in retirement villages.
