A 77-year-old woman from the Sunshine Coast has died from coronavirus, Queensland’s health authorities have confirmed.
She was the state’s first coronavirus-related death and the fourth Australian to die after being infected with the virus.
The Noosaville woman became ill during a flight to Sydney on Friday and died shortly after arriving in the city. According to authorities, she likely became infected after spending the two previous weeks with her daughter who was visiting from San Francisco.
There have been at least 61 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Queensland and 249 nationally.
Australia’s coronavirus death toll has risen to five after a 90-year-old resident of Dorothy Henderson Lodge died on Saturday.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced people arriving in Australia may soon face hefty fines if they fail to self-isolate for 14 days.
“All people coming to Australia will be required, will be required, I stress, to self-isolate for 14 days,” Morrison said.
“Further, the Australian government will ban cruise ships from foreign ports from arriving at Australian ports after an initial 30 days and that will go forward on a rolling basis.”
Penalties in some states include thousands of dollars in fines.
