Four coronavirus victims confirmed in Australia as experts warn there will be more
Four cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Australia - three in NSW and one in Victoria.
The victims are all male and aged 53, 43, 35. They are being held in isolation at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, NSW Health confirmed Saturday evening.
The Victorian man, in his 50s, was confirmed earlier on Saturday, as China confirmed 41 deaths from the virus, while more than 1000 people now estimated to have been affected worldwide.
All victims had recently travelled back to Australia from the Chinese city Wuhan, where the outbreak began.
The infected Victorian person was the first to be confirmed in Australia, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said Saturday morning.
The Chinese man tested positive for the virus on Saturday after visiting a GP on Thursday and going to hospital on Friday.
"There is no reason for alarm in the general community," Ms Mikakos said.
The man had been in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people and the epicentre of the outbreak, before catching a flight to Melbourne from Guangzhou on January 19.
Health authorities are waiting for test results for one potential coronavirus case in Queensland after five people were cleared on Saturday.
Of the latest six cases, three were reported on the Gold Coast and two in Brisbane.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young told reporters on Saturday about a dozen people nationwide were being tested for the virus.
“It’s an evolving number. We will be treating them as if they’re confirmed cases, as a precaution,” she said, according to news.com.au.
People feared infected with the coronavirus are being turned away from clogged hospitals as more Australians are feared affected by the deadly infection.
Millions of people in lockdown amid growing threat
Hospitals in the Chinese city of Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - are at capacity with at least 12 nearby cities and 36 million people being placed into lockdown.
One woman has travelled to multiple hospitals seeking urgent treatment for her sick husband, but was turned away from each one and forced to wait outside while he coughs up blood.
“People just keep dying, no one is taking care of the bodies. If this goes on like this, we will all be doomed,” the woman, named Xiaoxi, told The South China Morning Post.
The virus has already killed more than 40 people in China and infected upward of 1000 people around the world.
France has had three people test positive - the disease's first appearance in Europe.
Two cases, including a Chicago woman returning from China, have been confirmed in the United States.
Other than in Victoria, no more victims have been confirmed in Australia.
Most people who initially caught the virus either worked at or visited a Wuhan seafood market. However, not all cases are now linked to that market, according to the Department of Health.
There is currently no vaccine to prevent the infection, with the best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to this virus.
Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, a sore throat and a runny nose.
With AAP.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
