There are about 1000 people from COVID-19 hotspots in self quarantine compared to only 143 in supervised quarantine in the Territory, because the first group arrived in the NT before July 17, taking advantage of the lag between hotspots being declared and the stricter requirements being enforced.

NT Police spokesman Rob Cross said in a statement Monday afternoon, 1,204 people entered the NT in the 24 hours until 5am Monday. Of those, 113 had to go into quarantine, including 110 who arrived by plane.

He said about 1,000 people in total were in self quarantine after arriving from a hotspot before July 17.

In a Monday morning interview on Mix 104.9, Acting Commander Shaun Gill said there were 143 in supervised quarantine in total, with 115 in Howard Springs and 28 in Alice Springs. He did say this number included Defence Force members who had returned from overseas.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner declared all of Melbourne a hotspot on the evening of July 6 and then all of Victoria a hotspot on July 8. However people were still free to come from those areas and be in self quarantine if they came before July 17.

He declared Sydney a hotspot on July 15, but again the new rules also did not come into force until the 17th.

Comm Gill said 5,190 people had crossed the Territory borders with 2,200 crossing from South Australia on the Stuart Hwy, 1,400 from Queensland on the Barkly Hwy, 518 on the Victoria Hwy from Western Australian and 516 through airports.

Mr Cross said there have been 28,358 compliance checks done since mandatory quarantine came into force with 143 fines issued.