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The coronavirus crisis in Australia has deepened with a string of new cases and the first confirmed death prompting authorities to warn a local epidemic is inevitable.  

The death of Perth travel agent James Kwan, 78, on Sunday came as four more people were diagnosed with the virus, with health agencies scrambling to contact passengers on board multiple flights two of the infected were travelling on.   

Mr Kwan died at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Sunday after contracting the illness while quarantined on board the virus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

His wife Theresa, who also caught the virus and is at the same hospital in a stable condition, was forced to say goodbye to her husband using a phone and separated by a glass wall as he lay dying in his quarantined room. 

'My husband passed away peacefully knowing that his family loved him,' Mrs Kwan said in a statement on Sunday night.   

Travel agent and industry 'legend' James Kwan, 78, is Australia's first fatality as a result of the coronavirus

Mr Kwan, who was the first Australian to die of coronavirus, is seen getting off the plane in Perth after he was transferred from Darwin on February 21

'James and Theresa were very much a hand-in-glove couple - wherever James was, Theresa was there to support him in the family business,' a friend told The Australian.

They said the situation was 'really tragic'.

WA Premier Mark McGowan paid tribute to Mr Kwan and described the much-loved travel estate agent's final moments in quarantine as 'awful'.'

'It would have been awful, they couldn't go in and touch him or hold his hand, it would have been so tragically sad,' Mr McGown said about Mr Kwan's family.

'You don't want to leave this world without someone holding your hand.'

Mr McGowan told residents in the state not to panic. 

'Go to work, attend functions and events engage with family and friends. Don't change what you're currently doing and whatever you do, don't panic in this situation,' he said. 

South Korean soldiers in protective gear spray disinfectant at a railway station in Daegu in the country's south on Saturday. Federal health minister Greg Hunt warned the continued spread of the virus in Australia was 'inevitable'

The pioneering agent died at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Sunday. In a heartbreaking farewell, he could only communicate with his family in his final hours by phone or through glass

Theresa and James Kwan contracted the virus along with more than 700 passengers on the cruise ship, which was quarantined for two weeks from February 5.

He was one of 164 Australians evacuated from the cruise liner and quarantined in Howard Springs in the Northern Territory.

Mr Kwan was diagnosed with COVID-19 about 10 days ago and flown to the Perth hospital on February 21 prior to his death.

The Australian Tourism Export Council also paid tribute to Mr Kwan, crediting him for finding new avenues to bring Malaysian, Chinese and Indonesian tourists to Australia.

'It's partly on his shoulders that an industry dedicated to bringing in international tourists has grown,' ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said.

Tourism operator Manny Papadoulis said Mr Kwan was 'pretty much a legend' in the industry and a skilled operator.

The 78-year-old had been on board the Diamond Princess with his daughter-in-law and his son Edwin - to whom he handed over his tour company Wel-Travel. 

CORONAVIRUS PANIC BUYING AT COLES AS PANDEMIC GROWS

Supermarkets are running out of stock as people across Australia panic buy supplies amid a potential outbreak.

Coles in Claremont, Perth, was brimming with people on Saturday as they stocked up on essential hand sanitiser, toilet paper, tinned food and bottled water.

Throughout the region grocers and pharmacies have run out of hand sanitiser. Some stores don't expect more stock until mid week.  

One shopper said the hysteria surrounding the outbreak was most concerning.

Customers were 'disgusted' at the low supply levels in store when they went to do their groceries 

'There's so many people grabbing stuff. It's kind of intimidating,' Lucy Bell told 7News. 

Shelves in the store were unusually empty as customers purchased multiple boxes of bottled water and packets of toilet paper.

Another woman said it was the same story at her local Coles, too.

'Toilet paper, nappies, pads all bare at my Coles tonight. Absolutely disgusted,' she wrote on Facebook.

Shoppers in North Sydney said they were having the same issues with general items.

Rice, flour and toilet paper were 'the first to go' in the area.

Edwin is believed to still be in Japan, while Mr Kwan's daughter-in-law is in quarantine in Darwin.

Western Australia's Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson said the elderly man had been in isolation since the diagnosis and therefore could not have posed a risk to the community.  

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Morrison government had a national plan to monitor the virus' spread, but said more cases of the SARS-like disease in Australia were unavoidable.

'With the international spread of this virus, it is almost inevitable that we will see more cases of COVID-19 in Australia in coming weeks,' he said in a statement on Sunday. 

A Queensland health official went a step further, saying an epidemic was expected.

'I expect we will see an outbreak of the epidemic in Queensland,' the state's chief medical officer Jeanette Young said on Sunday. 

The number of countries hit by the virus has climbed past 60, and the death toll worldwide has reached at least 3000. 

Mr Kwan boarded the doomed cruise liner Diamond Princess in Perth with his wife Iris, who also contracted the virus

It comes as the government defended its decision to ban foreign visitors entering Australia from Iran to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, rather than South Korea which has a much higher level of cases. 

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Sunday said of the 106 deaths reported outside of China, 43 have been in Iran.

The new travel restrictions came in as four people returning from Iran were confirmed as having contracted the virus.

NSW health authorities confirmed the state's fifth and six cases as a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s who both returned to Sydney from Iran.

The two cases are not connected, and they arrived on different days.

A medical worker from Sydney in his 50s is also feared to be Australia's first case of the coronavirus being transmitted from person-to-person.

He has been tested and the results will be back in the coming days.  

New cases in Victoria and Queensland also came from Iran - a Victorian woman who was confirmed as testing positive on Sunday, and a 63-year-old Gold Coast beautician who arrived on Monday.

A 63-year-old woman diagnosed with coronavirus after returning from Iran gave facials to 40 clients at Hair Plus salon in Australia Fair Shopping Centre (pictured) on Thursday

Workers in protective clothing create a walkway for evacuees from the Diamond Princess in Japan to get to ambulances and be moved to hospital 

The beautician may have come into contact with as many as 40 people, health authorities warned.

It emerged on Saturday that she could have infected them while giving them facials at Hair Plus salon in the Australia Fair shopping centre in Southport. 

The Victorian Health Department said they were 'following up close contacts' of the state's case from Iran - who travelled to Melbourne on February 28 on Malindo Air flight 0D177 landing at 6.04am. 

NSW Health urged anyone who was on the same flight as a woman who arrived in Sydney from Qatar on February 23 on Qatar Airways flight QR908 to watch for symptoms. 

'(They) should be on the alert for symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath,' a NSW Health spokesperson said. 

The woman travelling to Melbourne transited through Tehran via Kuala Lumpur and Bali.

Coupled with the woman who flew to Sydney, the number of transmission points to other passengers at airports and on planes could have expanded into the thousands. 

As the number of travellers willing to fly overseas drops during the global outbreak, Queensland has launched a $2million advertising campaign urging people to holiday in the state.

Tourism Minister Kate Jones said 'we know there's two types of Australians - Queenslanders and people who want to be Queenslanders'.

'So what we're saying is the best way to support Queensland right now is to stay here and holiday here.' 

People in protective clothing headed toward the ship as passengers fear crew who prepare the food on board are responsible for the transferal of the disease 

Reiterating health advice to use hand sanitisers and asking people not to walk the streets with face masks on, Mr McGowan urged WA to get flu vaccines ahead of this year's season.

He also assured West Australians that hospitals were gearing up in case the situation worsened.  

Coronavirus has been confirmed in the past 10 days for the first time in countries including Nigeria, Lebanon, New Zealand and Brazil.

The death count globally has reached almost 3,000 and the number of total cases at nearly 87,000.