Border Force officer 'knew 140 on board the Ruby Princess was carrying passengers with coronavirus symptoms' but the cruise ship was still ALLOWED to dock and let passengers off - as a 15th person from the cruise ship dies
- There were at least 140 passengers on Ruby Princess cruise ship in isolation
- Border Force officials were aware and expressed concern before ship's arrival
- Ship was able to dock anyway and more than 650 passengers have COVID-19
- So far, 15 of Australia's 50 coronavirus fatalities were passengers on the ship
Australian Border Force expressed concerns about the Ruby Princess potentially harbouring coronavirus carriers hours before it was given the green light to dock in Sydney Harbour and let its passengers off, a new report claims.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald said an ABF official who was aware that up to 140 passengers had symptoms consistent with coronavirus had raised the alarm with a Port Authority official just hours prior to the cruise ship's entry into Sydney Harbour.
As a result, the harbour master offered to have the ship stopped at Bradley's Head, just inside the entry to the harbour, but an ABF official called back after checking with a supervisor and the ship was given permission to dock at Circular Quay.
Some 2,700 passengers were able to walk off without so much as a temperature check, and spread the illness throughout the community.
Since then, at least 650 passengers have tested positive for COVID-19, and 15 have died from the infectious respiratory illness.
NSW Police Rescue officers look on as the Ruby Princess arrives in Australian waters during a previous trip
Australia has now reached 6,010 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 50 deaths across the country
A woman wearing a mask walks along a cordoned off Surfers Paradise Beach in Gold Coast, on March 8
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller on Sunday confirmed the state would launch a criminal investigation into the debacle, but it could take in excess of 18 months to make its findings.
On Wednesday, the Border Force released an official statement defending the actions of staff, and ultimately placing the blame back on NSW Health, as the federal and state bodies continued to exchange blame.
'The ABF officer made internal enquiries and subsequently advised the NSW Port Authority that the vessel had been cleared by NSW Health,' the statement read.
'The ABF did not seek to shape or influence any view or decision by the NSW Port Authority.'
Ruby Princess is pictured docked at Circular Quay as passengers disembarked in Sydney on March 19
Medical personnel carry equipment to the Bondi Beach drive-through testing centre on Tuesday (pictured), where people are queuing up in their vehicles to test for coronavirus
Police screen incoming passengers at the domestic airport in Brisbane on Friday, April 3
The spokesman argued Border Force's legal role in the ship's arrival was only to ensure everybody had the correct visas and that there was no contraband on board.
Likewise, the Department of Agriculture was responsible for biosecurity.
So far, 15 of Australia's 50 coronavirus deaths have come from the doomed Ruby Princess cruise ship.
In total, there had been 6,013 known cases of COVID-19 in Australia by Wednesday evening.
Another three people who died on Wednesday were passengers on other cruise ships, making them the country's most deadly source of infection.
Earlier that morning, health officials announced a 62-year-old Adelaide woman who was a passenger on the Ruby Princess had died in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Crew on board the Ruby Princess as the cruise liner docks at Port Kembla
Mr Fuller said there was clear evidence COVID-19 has come off the Ruby Princess (pictured off coast of Sydney on Sunday) and at least 10 passengers have died in Australia because of it
Hospital staff wear protective gear while testing patients with symptoms of coronavirus in northeast Adelaide
She is the second person to die from coronavirus in South Australia.
Over in New South Wales, there are currently 2,734 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with testing now being ramped up in at at-risk areas to combat the killer virus.
While NSW - and Australia generally - was seeing a decline in cases as the rate of infection slows, hotspots continued to spring up across the state, sparking fears of a second wave of community transmission.
Testing was being increased in 13 suburbs: Waverley, Woollahra, Dee Why, Manly, Ryde, Macquarie Park, Broken Hill, Lake Macquarie, Manning, Nowra and South Nowra, Byron and Port Macquarie.
NSW Health urged anyone in those areas with symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat or shortness of breath to get tested.
The areas were specifically being focused on as they have high numbers of community transmission where the origin is unknown.
The testing process for coronavirus includes a swab of each nostril and the back of the throat
