Anyone breaching mandatory quarantine in the NT should be prepared to pay an expanded infringement penalty of more than five times the previous amount as the Territory borders reopen today, the Gunner Government announced Friday morning.

Northern Territory Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker announced on Friday that beginning today, the noncompliance infringement penalty for an individual is now $5,056, up from $1,106.

Meanwhile, business operators who fail to implement the COVID-19 safety management plan such as not providing signage for physical distancing and failing to supply hand sanitiser to its patrons will be slapped with a $25,280 penalty, up from $5,530.

Commissioner Chalker reported that as of 5 am Friday morning around 230 people have crossed the NT borders and out of those, 11 have had to go into supervised quarantine.

“Those individuals making their way by road into those facilities, we got plans in place to be able to facilitate that and ensure that they travel safe within their existing bubble to limit any exposure to any Territorians,” he said.

Police updated that figure to 915 people who have come to the NT between midnight and 9 am.

Mr Chalker also urged anyone choosing to come to the Territory – particularly Territory travelers who are returning after school holidays – to be upfront and advise the police if they have been to declared hotspots.

“I ask everyone who engages with our border people to be remain courteous, to be polite, understand that they are undertaking a role,” Commissioner Chalker said.

“There still may be changes while still in transit, be it by road or by air.”

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said nearly half of Australia is not yet welcome to the Territory.

“From today those consequences [for breaching quarantine] will be even tougher,” Mr Gunner said. He also reiterated that anyone coming from hotspots such as Victoria or greater metropolitan Sydney will be placed under forced supervised quarantine in isolation facilities like in Howard Springs camp.

“There will be tougher consequences for anyone who does the wrong thing and ignores the directions from the Chief Health Officer,” he said.

Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie reminded Territorians to be “mindful who’s around you” as the borders reopen.

“I’m not saying that we won’t be getting any cases here. We are prepared for both visitors and Territorians,” he said.

“If you’re unwell, even if it’s just a blocked nose, that’s what we’ve seen with this case and spread in New South Wales. It was just a headache that actually was the sign of the infection, such a minimal symptom that led to very rapid transmission.”

Territorians still seem divided on the decision to open the NT’s borders, with many voicing their concerns on social media on Friday, including in an NT Independent non-scientific Facebook poll that showed 92 readers were in favour of the borders opening and 188 were against the move as of lunchtime.