The Greater Darwin and Alice Springs lockdowns have ended at 1pm today, with restrictions remaining in place for at least the next week as the NT emerges from its first real COVID-19 scare that saw 10 people officially infected with the Delta variant from an outbreak at a mine.
Another worker on the Friday flight to Darwin from the Tanami mine outbreak site has tested positive for the Delta strain of COVID-19 overnight, but health authorities said they believe he was not infectious on Friday when he entered the community. Chief Minister Michael Gunner said this morning that the man was a “close contact” of the first known case.
No new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Northern Territory over the last 24 hours, the government says, as massive testing across the Greater Darwin area continues and a new vaccine clinic is set to open.
Alice Springs will go into a 72-hour lockdown, effective from 1pm today, five days after the NT Government became aware of the COVID-19 outbreak at the Tanami gold mine, and following a mine worker suspected of being infectious spending seven hours at the airport on Friday.
Two new COVID-19 cases overnight are connected to the Palmerston man who flew back to Darwin from the Tanami gold mine site onboard an unrestricted flight Friday afternoon, the government said.
UPDATED: An unrestricted charter flight of 70 mine workers from the COVID-19 Tanami gold mine outbreak site carrying the highly-infectious Delta strain flew into Darwin on Friday afternoon with all passengers permitted to enter the community freely.
The greater Darwin lockdown has been extended until Friday at 1pm the government announced, as the Chief Minister finally disclosed COVID-19 public exposure sites around the Top End.
Six new positive cases of COVID-19 among workers from the Tanami gold mine have been confirmed in the Howard Springs quarantine facility, sources have told the NT Independent.
The greater Darwin region is under a 48-hour lockdown effective from Sunday at 1pm, following five cases of COVID-19 linked to an infected miner at a central Australian mine, with more expected.
UPDATE: A worker from the Granites Tanamai gold mine site who tested positive to COVID-19, and 70 of his work mates, are in quarantine in Howard Springs, with contact tracing started for the roughly 900 people known to have left the mine since June 18, the NT Government has said.
Authorities have fined a 23-year-old airline passenger from New South Wales who landed in the Territory on Thursday for allegedly refusing to wear a mask at an airport.
NT Health has started analysing wastewater for early signs of coronavirus, confirming today it is testing samples from 10 wastewater catchments across the Territory for the virus.
