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Tania Admin
The Greater Darwin region will go into a 48-hour lockdown from 1:00pm local time today after the detection of four new COVID-19 cases linked to a Central Australian mine, Chief Minister Michael Gunner has announced.
Under the lockdown, people in the Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield local government areas, including the Darwin rural area, will only be permitted to leave their homes for five reasons:
Medical treatment including coronavirus testing and vaccinations
To get essential goods and services
For essential work
For one hour of exercise within a 5km radius
To provide care to people unable to support themselves.
Masks have to be worn outside the home.
"The Northern Territory is now facing its biggest threat since the COVID crisis began," Mr Gunner said.
"I cannot rule out the lockdown being longer.
"I cannot rule out expanding the boundaries of the lockdown. If it needs to be longer, if it needs to be wider, it will be."
Territorians are not allowed to travel, including interstate, except for those reasons, but people from interstate are permitted to leave.
The four new cases are all related to a worker at a major Central Australian gold mine who tested positive to COVID-19 late on Friday night.
Two of the new cases are on the Granites mine site in the Tanami desert, one has since travelled to New South Wales and is being managed by that state's health authorities, and one flew from the mine to Darwin before travelling home to Palmerston on Friday.
Both of the positive cases on the mine site are being transferred to the quarantine facility in Howard Springs.
Mr Gunner said the 64-year-old Palmerston man had been in contact with his wife and daughter, and all three are now entering quarantine.
Authorities said 80 passengers on the man's plane, who are deemed "high-risk contacts", are also being contacted and sent into quarantine.
Authorities are increasingly confident they are dealing with the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus.
Source ABC News..
Under the lockdown, people in the Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield local government areas, including the Darwin rural area, will only be permitted to leave their homes for five reasons:
Medical treatment including coronavirus testing and vaccinations
To get essential goods and services
For essential work
For one hour of exercise within a 5km radius
To provide care to people unable to support themselves.
Masks have to be worn outside the home.
"The Northern Territory is now facing its biggest threat since the COVID crisis began," Mr Gunner said.
"I cannot rule out the lockdown being longer.
"I cannot rule out expanding the boundaries of the lockdown. If it needs to be longer, if it needs to be wider, it will be."
Territorians are not allowed to travel, including interstate, except for those reasons, but people from interstate are permitted to leave.
The four new cases are all related to a worker at a major Central Australian gold mine who tested positive to COVID-19 late on Friday night.
Two of the new cases are on the Granites mine site in the Tanami desert, one has since travelled to New South Wales and is being managed by that state's health authorities, and one flew from the mine to Darwin before travelling home to Palmerston on Friday.
Both of the positive cases on the mine site are being transferred to the quarantine facility in Howard Springs.
Mr Gunner said the 64-year-old Palmerston man had been in contact with his wife and daughter, and all three are now entering quarantine.
Authorities said 80 passengers on the man's plane, who are deemed "high-risk contacts", are also being contacted and sent into quarantine.
Authorities are increasingly confident they are dealing with the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus.
Source ABC News..
