Last modified on Mon 28 Jun 2021 01.18 EDT
When his throat first started hurting, John Brown didnât think much of it.
It was March 2020 and the 48-year-old was onboard the Voyager of the Seas, a cruise travelling through the Pacific Islands.
âThere were people on board that had the odd cough and splutter,â says Brown, a retired public servant living in Canberra, in Australiaâs capital. He put it down to what regular cruisers refer to as âcabin coughâ â the result of travelling for several days in air conditioning and close proximity to thousands of other passengers.
The ship docked in Sydney Harbour on 18 March. Brown was one of 34 passengers disembarking the ship who would go on to be diagnosed with Covid-19.