WA’s second coronavirus case being treated at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital after returning from Diamond Princess cruise ship

A second case of coronavirus has been confirmed in WA, with the wife of the first case testing positive for the disease. It is understood the woman, believed to be in her 70s, contracted the disease while on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. She is currently being treated in isolation at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. She initially tested negative for the virus. Her 78-year-old husband remains in a stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit. The pair were evacuated from Darwin and arrived in Perth last Friday. Health Department chief health officer Andrew Robertson said the woman, who was not in the ICU, had been in isolation since arriving in Perth. He said he did not think this was evidence of community spread. ‘It’s a very difficult situation to speculate on at this stage,’ he said. ‘Our plans will include options for social distancing, that could include closing schools, it could include closing down events, it could include encouraging people not to have mass gatherings. ‘All of those are options but they’re obviously going to be dictated by how the disease develops. ‘We still don’t know what the kind of spread will be but I think based on other countries we have to prepare for significant numbers of our population.’ Dr Robertson said the outbreak would put severe strains on WA’s hospital systems, EDs and ICUs. ‘Medical staffing is going to be an issue and that’s probably true anywhere in the world,’ he said. ‘But people will step up, people will come off leave, part time people will work full time so I believe we can ramp up our capacity.’ He said while the woman initially tested negative for coronavirus before being confirmed as a case overnight, there were no implications for other West Australians who had been tested for the disease. ‘We don’t normally test asymptomatic patients, all the patients that have been tested have been symptomatic and if it was negative then they are negative for the disease. This has no implications for any of those people.’ The head of Australia’s peak doctors’ group said it was not a time for panic but it was a time for preparation. Australian Medical Association WA president Andrew Miller said the community needs to “wake up”. “There is a wave of virus coming,” he said at a press conference held after confirmation of WA’s second case of the virus. “I think the message is... don’t panic... but be prepared.” He said with a vaccine 18 months away it was important for WA to put measures in place now to prepare for what was likely coming. Premier Mark McGowan said the State Government would be making further announcements about preparations that are being put in place to deal with coronavirus. “We need to not panic and work with the Commonwealth Government to put in all the preparations in place that we can as a State,” he said. “We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen … but we are doing everything we can to make sure we are secure and safe.”