A 91-year-old NSW woman has been confirmed as the 14th Australian to die after testing positive to COVID-19.
The woman was a resident at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged-care facility in Macquarie Park in northern Sydney, where a number of residents and employees have tested positive for COVID-19.
She is the fourth resident from the facility to die, following the deaths of people aged 82, 90 and 95 earlier this month.
BaptistCare, which operates the facility, said the woman had been hospitalised earlier this week.
The woman had tested positive on March 20 but was asymptomatic.
BaptistCare chief executive Ross Low said thoughts were with all those affected.
“Words fail to express the deep sense of sadness and grief we are all feeling at this time,” he said.
The total number of cases connected to the facility is 18, including 13 residents and five employees.
Australia has more than 3500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 324 over the past day.
NSW has recorded 1617 cases, Victoria has 685 (up from 574, the state’s biggest one-day increase), Queensland has 555, followed by South Australia (257), Western Australia (255), the ACT (62), Tasmania (59) and the Northern Territory, which has seven cases.
From midnight on Saturday, all returning overseas travellers will be quarantined from two weeks in hotels across the country.
About 3000 people expected to arrive in Sydney on Sunday will be assessed by health officials before being taken to hotels, at the cost of the taxpayer.
“They are not criminals. They will be given food and hotel rooms,” NSW Police Chief Commission Mick Fuller told reporters.
“I know it is challenging times for those people returning home. They probably just want to come home and lay on their own bed and see their family members, but the reality is that (these are) truly unprecedented times.
“We will treat as people with absolute respect and dignity but we will need their support in terms of understanding.”
-with agencies
