'Can't track the source': Alarming admission as second Australian dies from coronavirus
Health officials are desperately trying to work out where an aged care worker contracted coronavirus before she passed it on to elderly residents, one who has since died.
NSW Health has confirmed a 95-year-old woman died after contracting coronavirus from the female nurse at BaptistCare's Dorothy Henderson Lodge at Macquarie Park in western Sydney.
She was one of six new NSW cases identified on Wednesday night as the state total jumped to 22.
NSW Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard, said the nurse hadn’t travelled abroad and admitted she could have spread the virus prior to testing positive on Tuesday.
“We’re aware that it’s likely that she could have been capable of passing on the coronavirus from at least the day before,” Mr Hazzard said.
“It is concerning when we have somebody present with coronavirus and we can’t track the source.”
“How did she end up with coronavirus?”
She initially began showing symptoms on February 24.
A second resident, an 82-year-old man, also contracted the virus from the worker, aged in her 50s, while a further 11 residents who came into contact with the woman have been placed into isolation.
Fears of further spread, including inside hospital
A further five cases in NSW were later confirmed on Wednesday, including a 70-year-old woman from the care facility, a female doctor working at Liverpool Hospital, a female patient from the Northern Beaches, a man from Cronulla and a woman believed to have returned from the Philippines.
The female doctor had no history of overseas travel.
“We are immediately establishing which staff and patients [at Liverpool Hospital] may need to self-isolate and be tested for COVID-19 should they be unwell," NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant said in a statement late Wednesday night.
The woman believed to have returned to Australia from the Philippines is aged in her 60s and arrived 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," Dr Chant said.
Authorities are still trying to establish the recent movements of the woman aged in her 30s from the northern beaches and the man in his 50s from Cronulla.
NSW Health is also seeking passengers who were on five separate flights from Asia in the past week after two men in their 30s, a man in his 50s and two women in their 60s tested positive following their arrival in NSW.
They travelled from Iran, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Qantas on Wednesday cancelled its QF1 Sydney-to-London flight after it was advised that several passengers who had recently travelled on various airlines had tested COVID-19 positive.
The airline said it was doing some additional cleaning of the aircraft as a precaution.
There are now 22 confirmed cases in NSW.
With AAP
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