Grey nomads relaxing in the Northern Territory, thinking they had managed to avoid the Covid chaos in the southern states have had a rude awakening.
The NT has a recorded one new case of Covid, and NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner has announced a snap three-day lockdown for Darwin and the Katherine region to limit possible spread.
The positive case is a man in his 30s, who travelled to the Northern Territory for legitimate work purposes on August 12. As a recent international arrival he had been in 14-day quarantine in Sydney.
Mr Gunner said the man visited ‘various location’ in Darwin CBD over the recent days, before travelling to Katherine to work at the Knotts Crossing resort.
“There is a very real risk that this virus has been transmitted to others,” Mr Gunner said.
Supermarkets will remain open during the lockdown. Masks must be worn outside the home, including during exercise.
The lockdown is set to last until midday Thursday.
Residents in Greater Darwin and Katherine will only be permitted to leave home for one of the following 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.
Yes, we are affected, or so we think, we were heading out of Howard Springs tomorrow for Katherine, but from the looks of things we’ll be stuck here until Thursday now. Need to push all the caravan park bookings out for three days. Bugger international travellers.
I agree, why was he going too work, surely a Aussi could fill the position.
Yes, we are affected too, we were going to leave Darwin Wednesday to start our trip home to Maryborough QLD. Need to stop people coming in from overseas!
They are Australians just like you! They have to be able to come home!
You are right Andreas; many Australians work overseas and their contracts just happen to finish at this unfortunate time and they want to return home to Australia. What about those 1,000 or more people in Afghanistan who worked for the allies. They have to be given visas and be allowed to come to Australia; if they have to stay in Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill them. Not all returning are tourists.