NT bans unvaxxed entries as outbreak grows
Health authorities in the Northern Territory are scrambling to manage a growing COVID-19 outbreak that has spread to remote Indigenous communities.
Photo: supplied
The outbreak has grown to 35 after nine people from the Binjari community 320km south of Darwin were diagnosed late on Saturday.
No further local COVID-19 cases were detected on Sunday, but contract tracers have identified 385 close contacts from the latest cluster, according to the NT government.
Of these, 374 have been contacted and are isolating while 314 have tested negative.
Unvaccinated travellers are no longer able to enter the NT under sweeping border rule changes that begin on Monday.
The only exception will be essential personnel and Territorians returning from jurisdictions where the virus is not present, called green zones.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said a 78-year-old woman from Binjari is being treated in Royal Darwin Hospital, while the other eight cases – five men and three women – have been taken to the Howard Springs quarantine centre.
-AAP
