The dire situation in Tasmania right now a thread: Two passengers from the Ruby Princess died in the North West Hospital in March. Now, 60 cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed in the region. 42 are healthcare workers, 8 are patients. 1/7

There are fears Australia could lose its first healthcare worker to the virus. It’s forced the closure of two major hospitals in the North West. 1200 healthcare workers are in quarantine, as are at least 4000 of their family members. Locked up for 14 days. 2/7

Patients are being transferred to the less equipped Mersey hospital 30mins away. It’s a delicate operation as fears grow the virus will spread there too. 40 Defence Force personnel will arrive in Tas as early as tomorrow morn to assist with medical services & AUSMAT teams 3/7

Their main priority is to ‘deep clean’ the hospitals. 11 new cases were recorded overnight, all related to the north west hospital. Five people have died. The Premier says in the coming days “there will be more deaths.” 4/7

The city of Burnie, a tight-knit community, now the epicenter of the virus is essentially in lockdown. Almost all businesses have closed. Senator @JacquiLambie, who lives in Burnie tells me “It’s really been soul destroying and it’s bloody awful” 5/7

Whilst now is not the time to talk about what went wrong, the Tassie cluster really is one that should be properly scrutinised. To quote Labor’s health spokesman @bowenchris “the Ruby Princess is not a NSW problem, it is a national scandal” 6/7

I note, the newly appointed Tas Premier Peter Gutwein has had no problem making big calls to contain the spread.His unprecedented moves so far may have saved dozens of lives. I don’t know what else the federal govt can do, but everything at its disposal should been thrown in. 7/7