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COVID-19 crisis: WA records fourth coronavirus death

Headshot of Josh Zimmerman
Josh ZimmermanThe West Australian
WA Premier Mark McGowan.
Camera IconWA Premier Mark McGowan. Credit: Trevor Collens/The Sunday Times

The growing cluster of COVID-19 cases from the Ruby Princess has claimed the life of a West Australian after an 84-year-old man died at Royal Perth Hospital overnight.

It is the first WA death linked to the cruise ship but comes after 73-year-old Perth man Ray Daniels — who had travelled on the Celebrity Solstice — succumbed to the virus at Joondalup Health Campus on March 26.

Tourism pioneer James Kwan was the first West Australian to die of the disease on March 1, which he contracted on board the Diamond Princess that spent weeks anchored off Japan.

Last week a German national who had been travelling on the Artania cruise ship also died of COVID-19 in a Perth hospital.

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The seventh case is a health care worker in the Kimberley who recently returned from overseas travel and has not been back to work.

There are currently 58 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 18 in intensive care.

Today’s new cases are aged between 41 and 79.

Meanwhile, the WA Government has secured $5.5 million of personal protective equipment, ensuring continuity of supply for at least two more months.

Premier Mark McGowan announced the new supplies had arrived Saturday and were a “welcome relief for people working in hospitals and the health system”.

He said procurement officials had travelled overseas to inspect the equipment at factories and airports before it was flown to WA.

The new equipment is in addition to the $160 million worth of supplies sourced from China by mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s charitable Minderoo Foundation.

Health Minister Roger Cook revealed not all of the Minderoo equipment was “necessarily clinical grade” but said it could be used in some settings.

Mr McGowan said the new hard border that came into effect midnight last night had been “implemented very smoothly” and that police were now in place at airports and land entries to WA to ensure the new arrangement was operating properly.

While unsure whether any travellers had been turned away at the airport, Mr McGowan said so far two cars arriving at the WA border had been denied entry into the state because they did not have an exemption to the new border restrictions.

“As bad as it is for them, it sets a good example for everyone else,” Mr McGowan said.

“Don’t drive across because if you’re not exempt you are going to be turned back.”

Eight accommodation centres — including Rottnest Island — have now been created as quarantine zones.

The Westin Hotel has been set aside especially for healthcare workers that need to be quarantined after coming into contact with COVID-19 positive patients.

“We want to make sure any health workers who need that support will receive that support,” Mr McGowan said of the Westin.

The Premier also revealed the 35-year-old Victorian man arrested after police say he breached self-isolation laws repeatedly by wedging open the fire exit at a Perth hotel had allegedly been escaping to visit his girlfriend.

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