THE Hunter New England Health (HNEH) district has recorded its first death from COVID-19 after a 76-year-old man died in a Sydney hospital on Saturday, April 4.
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The resident of the region had been a passenger on the controversy-stricken cruise ship, the Ruby Princess.
The man was previously diagnosed with coronavirus and subsequently died from complications at the Westmead Hospital.
HNEH offered its "sincere condolences to his [the man's] family and friends."
A spokeswoman said they were unable to release where the man lived in the region.
He was one of four passengers of the Ruby Princess to die over the weekend from COVID-19, taking the total death toll from the ship to 11 since it docked in Sydney on March 19.
Other passengers who died in NSW over the weekend were a 91-year-old male at Port Macquarie Base Hospital and a 80-year-old man at the Westmead Hospital.
Queensland Health also confirmed on Sunday that a 78-year-old male passenger died of coronavirus in Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital on the weekend.
There have been 600 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 342 of which are in NSW, from the 2647 passengers and 1148 crew on board the Ruby Princess.
The decision to allow cruise ship passengers to disembark has caused a political firestorm, with Federal and State government departments blaming each other for the debacle.
NSW Police announced on Sunday it had begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the docking and disembarking of the Ruby Princess.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said a criminal investigation was underway to fully examine the communications, actions, and other circumstances that led to the docking and disembarking of the vessel at Sydney Harbour.
The investigation will be led by Homicide Squad Detective Chief Inspector Jason Dickinson.
Investigators are expected to interview thousands of witnesses including the Ruby Princess captain and doctors, the crew and passengers and government officials.
"I've examined a number of phone calls between NSW Ambulance, NSW Port Authority and NSW Police that stemmed from the initial 17-minute triple zero call from the ship to NSW Ambulance on March 18," Commissioner Fuller said.
"There appears to have been an exceptional amount of effort put in by Ports to determine the true nature of the conditions on board - and even delayed the vessel's arrival until they were provided additional information.
"After reviewing the information at hand, the only way I can determine whether our national biosecurity laws or our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation."
NSW Police said 200 of the 1040 Ruby Princess crew members were displaying symptoms, and 16 crew members had returned positive results for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Hunter New England Health recorded four new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, taking the total for the region to 245.
It followed the report of no new cases on Friday.
There are 10 COVID-19 patients being treated in Hunter New England Health hospitals, including five in the intensive care unit and 76 people have recovered.
The MidCoast Council region has 37 confirmed cases as of 8pm on Saturday, April 4.
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