There are now 48 people on the Mid North Coast diagnosed with COVID-19 and one person has died.
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A 91-year-old man has died at Port Macquarie Base Hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday, April 4.
The tragic news was confirmed by a spokesperson from NSW Health on Sunday, April 5. The man was a passenger on the Ruby Princess cruise ship.
It's the first recorded death on the Mid North Coast.
There are four confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Macleay Valley, one confirmed case in Bellingen Shire and three in Nambucca Heads.
Six of the 29 confirmed cases in the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area have an "unknown source of infection". They are identified as "locally acquired" and public health investigations and case interviews are ongoing in these cases.
Two confirmed cases are from a known cluster.
The first case reported in Port Macquarie on March 19, a 14-year-old student from St Columba Anglican School, has made a full recovery. All 60+ known contacts of the student self-isolated and have also been given the all-clear.
Mid North Coast Local Health District is contacting close contacts of the new cases, who are asked to self-isolate for 14 days from last contact.
They will be contacted daily to check that they are well and anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms will be tested for the virus.
Statistics on the NSW Health website as of 8pm on April 4 shows that:
- 29 of the 48 cases on the Mid North Coast are in the Port Macquarie-Hastings local government area.
- Six cases in Port Macquarie-Hastings are confirmed to have an "unknown source of infection". Public health investigations and case interviews are ongoing in these cases.
- The 48 confirmed cases from 2805 tests conducted (up until 8pm, April 4) represents a 1.71 per cent positive test rate to date for the Mid North Coast Health District.
- Most of the confirmed cases are people who have recently returned from overseas.
- To the south, there are 245 confirmed cases in the Hunter-New England Health District.
- Across NSW, 2580 people have contracted the virus (up until 8pm, April 4). There have been a total of 16 deaths across the state.
Members of the community can help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by staying home where possible, washing their hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub, covering coughs and sneezes, maintaining social distance and observing rules on social gathering.
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