A small Queensland town can breathe a sigh of relief after it was revealed the death of a 30-year-old miner was not caused by COVID-19.
Nathan Turner was named as the youngest person in Australia to die from the coronavirus after his partner found him dead at their home in Blackwater in May.
Initially a post-mortem showed he was positive for the virus but on Monday night Queensland Health announced further testing had shown a negative result, reports 9 News.
"The Coroner tonight advised that further tests have returned negative for COVID-19. He is yet to determine the man's cause of death," the state's chief health officer Jeannette Young said in a statement.
Blackwater is reeling after the discovery with one woman saying the news means the community can finally "breathe easy".
"Our thoughts are with everyone who has been directly impacted by this whole ordeal and the little community of Blackwater can now breathe easy," wrote Kelly Bunyoung on Facebook. Bunyoung owns the Fairbairn Bakery in Blackwater where Turner's widow works.
"Now his loved ones can be left in peace and Nathan can finally RIP x."
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has apologised to the Blackwater community and Turner's family for the turmoil caused by the misdiagnosis.
"We're very sorry for the distress that the family is going through at the moment.
"I do understand there's a lot of concern about how it came back a false positive."
The new results take Queensland's COVID-19 deaths from seven down to six.
