One of the first COVID-19 patients in Australia died nine months after infection. The Daily Mail reports.
A man from New South Wales died on December 21 from respiratory complications of the new coronavirus infection. He was found to have COVID-19 in March. The patient was the first to die with this diagnosis in Australia since September 19.
Chief Medical Officer Kerry Chant said the patient was tested for COVID-19 shortly before death. The analysis was negative. Chant noted that the patient was not contagious and did not pose a danger to others.
The death of the patient, she said, demonstrated the long-term dangerous consequences of the new coronavirus infection: “I think what happened confirms the fact that sometimes complications can be so serious that lung damage and other pathologies caused by COVID-19 can lead to death many months after infection. “
Chant added that most people who fall ill experience mild symptoms and recover from the virus in less than two weeks. However, some develop so-called “long-term covid” and suffer from fatigue, joint pain, shortness of breath, chest pain, persistent cough, and changes in smell or taste for months. Some patients lose their sense of smell and ability to taste, while in others they change or increase.
According to the latest data, by December 28, 28.3 thousand cases of infection with a new coronavirus infection were detected in Australia. In total, 909 residents of the country died from COVID-19.