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Australia’s coronavirus death toll rises to 45

Author
Newstalk ZB / news.com.au,
Publish Date
Tue, 7 Apr 2020, 11:42AM
Photo / Supplied
Photo / Supplied

Australia’s coronavirus death toll rises to 45

Author
Newstalk ZB / news.com.au,
Publish Date
Tue, 7 Apr 2020, 11:42AM

Australia’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 45 after 15 people died in the space of 72 hours.

The latest deaths were announced by NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant this morning. One was an 87-year-old woman who was a passenger on the Ruby Princess, bringing the stricken cruise ship’s grim tally to 13.

The other was a 90-year-old man, the second resident Opal Care Bankstown to die.

Not long after, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the state’s 11 death, while South Australia reported its first death – the 75-year-old man died at the Royal Adelaide Hospital last night after acquiring COVID-19 interstate.

It comes after the announcement overnight that a 90-year-old man who was a resident at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Sydney had died – the sixth victim from that aged care facility.

Among the wave of deaths announced on Sunday and Monday were Australia’s youngest victims so far, a man in his 50s who died in a Victorian hospital and a 61-year-old man who died at Hornsby Hospital in Sydney.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia is approaching 6000, but federal and state health officials are cautiously optimistic after several days of declining rates of new infections.

There are now 5862 total cases, with 2686 in NSW, 1158 in Victoria, 934 in Queensland, 411 in South Australia, 460 in Western Australia, 89 in Tasmania, 96 in the Australian Capital Territory and 28 in the Northern Territory .

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