Australia mourns 1st COVID-19 death this year

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has mourned the nation's first coronavirus death this year, reported Xinhua.

Authorities said on Tuesday that an 80-year-old Queensland man who tested positive for COVID-19 in hotel quarantine after returning from the Philippines died late on Monday.

It takes Australia's coronavirus death toll to 910.

Hunt said the death was a reminder of the importance of the vaccine rollout.

"Vaccinations are a fundamental part of the capacity for each individual to protect themselves but also to play their part in protecting everyone else in Australia and today's news just reinforces that," he said.

As of Tuesday there had been 1.23 million COVID-19 vaccines administered in Australia.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Tuesday confirmed that a woman in her 40s in Western Australia (WA) has been hospitalized with blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

It is the second case of blood clots linked to the vaccine in Australia.

"We have a second case of this syndrome that we call thrombosis clotting, a short and low level of platelets that is unusual," TGA Deputy Secretary John Skerritt said.

"Now to put this in perspective, of the over 1.2 million doses of vaccine, 700,000 or more have been AstraZeneca.

"That means that two from 700,000, one in 350,000 ... That is an extremely remote and unlikely event."

Australian adults under 50 are advised to avoid the AstraZeneca vaccine.