CANBERRA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The rate of COVID-19 deaths in Australia continues to accelerate, with the national toll rising to 34.
Authorities in New South Wales (NSW) on Sunday confirmed that four men aged 61, 76, 80 and 91, three of whom caught the virus on board the Ruby Princess cruise ship, died overnight, bringing the state's death toll to 16.
Nationally the number of deaths has more than doubled from 16 to 34 in seven days.
However, the spread of COVID-19 in Australia continues to slow.
According to the Department of Health there had been 5,635 confirmed cases as of Sunday morning -- an increase of only 3.3 percent from 5,454 as of Saturday morning.
NSW has surpassed 2,500 cases, most of which the state government say were acquired overseas.
In Victoria, which has 1,115 cases, state Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he was feeling optimistic about Australia's response to the virus for the first time.
"I think we're starting to see the outcomes of people doing the right thing. I think for the first time, I have a little bit of optimism that we can actually beat this," he told reporters.
Federal Parliament is set to reconvene on Wednesday to vote on legislation for the government's 130 billion Australian dollar (77.9 billion U.S. dollar) wage subsidy package.
Attorney-General Christian Porter, who is also the leader of the government in the lower house of Parliament, said that drafting the legislation for the package has been "one of the most important drafting exercises post World War II."
