One hundred travellers from Victoria have been moved into supervised quarantine in Darwin and Alice Springs since the Northern Territory declared hotspot areas in Victoria overnight.
Key points:
- The NT has declared Greater Melbourne and Bendigo hotspots effective immediately
- Travellers will be required to undertake mandatory quarantine at the Alice Springs or Howard Springs facilities
- Authorities say Victoria's growing number of cases is due to "a highly transmissible strain of COVID-19"
The Northern Territory Chief Health Officer, Charles Pain, declared Greater Melbourne and Bendigo hotspots from 12:01am on Thursday.
People arriving in the Northern Territory from these areas will need to quarantine at either the Alice Springs or Howard Springs facilities.
These directions mark a rapid change in the NT government's position on quarantine.
Yesterday, Health Minister Natasha Fyles said people arriving from Melbourne's highest risk exposure sites would be directed to self-isolate and get tested, rather than enter supervised quarantine at Howard Springs.
However, she said the advice could change "at any point" if the cluster of COVID cases grew in Victoria.
ABC News: Michael Franchi
)Speaking on ABC Radio Darwin this morning, Ms Fyles said 100 people arriving on evening flights from Victoria were directed to Howard Springs.
"I can let you know we were able to get the information to the flights before they departed Melbourne, as I understand there were a couple of evening flights coming to Darwin, people did offload but we did have around 100 people go into Howard Springs," she said.
In a statement, NT Health authorities said anyone who arrived in the NT from Greater Melbourne or Bendigo during an earlier period between May 12 and 12.00am on Thursday May 27 must immediately self-isolate, get a COVID-19 test and remain in self-quarantine until a negative test is returned.
Additionally, visitors who had been to a Tier 1 exposure site in Victoria must remain in quarantine.
The NT Government is urging people to keep up to date with the full list of exposure sites on the NT health department's website.
Victoria has recorded 26 COVID-19 cases, with 11 new cases recorded overnight. It is expected the Victorian government will announce a lockdown today to curb the outbreak.
Following a critical 36 hours, which saw masks brought back in and visitors to homes restricted in Victoria, Dr Pain said he was expecting the cluster to grow as health authorities continued to investigate and undertake contact tracing.
ABC News: Hamish Harty
)"There is also uncertainty about some of the sources of transmission which poses a greater risk to the Northern Territory, particularly as tourism and visitor numbers increase.
"For these reasons, we are going hard and wide early to declare Greater Melbourne and Bendigo Local government areas as hotspots."
However, Dr Pain said the government would remain "agile" in its response to the outbreak, flagging that the directions could change if the risk of transmission subsides.
"Declaring hotspots is always a difficult decision to make and is only done when the risk to Territorians is unacceptable," he said.
"With a significant influx of visitors to the NT, it is critical that the health and safety of Territorians remains our first priority."
Yesterday, the AFL announced Saturday night's match between Gold Coast and Hawthorn would not go ahead in Darwin.
The Hawks were due to touch down today in Darwin today on flight QF1322, but that flight was cancelled early this morning.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiY2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA1LTI3L250LWRlY2xhcmVzLWdyZWF0ZXItbWVsYm91cm5lLWFuZC1iZW5kaWdvLWhvdHNwb3RzLzEwMDE2OTE3NNIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDAxNjkxNzQ?oc=5
2021-05-26 23:41:51Z
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