For grey nomads in the southern states who have been hanging out to get up to the topical warmth of the Northern Territory, the wait will soon be over.
The Territory’s Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, has announced NT’s borders will be open from July 17. It means visitors will not need to self-isolate for 14 days after crossing into the NT.
“Based on the evidence, our Chief Health Officer recommends a 28-day assessment period before opening our borders — which is two Covid-19 replication cycles,” Mr Gunner said in a statement. “That is why we are waiting until next month … this gives the rest of Australia four weeks’ notice, and it gives the Territory four weeks to get ready.”
Local police and the Australian Defence Force will continue to man border posts and all arrival areas for two weeks after the quarantine ends in July.
“For this period, people will still complete the arrival form, telling us where they have come from and where they intend to stay and this gives us an extra layer of protection,” Mr Gunner said.
He also said that a dedicated rapid response team was ready to manage any outbreaks across the NT, if they occurred.
The decision goes against the wishes of the Australian Medical Association, who wanted the NT’s borders to remain closed until coronavirus was eradicated across Australia.
The NT’s AMA Branch President Dr Robert Parker told the ABC that while he sympathised with people who had lost their livelihoods during the pandemic, the virus could still easily spread throughout the NT.
“If anyone comes to the Territory and goes to communities, we could have lots of really sick people,” he said. “Aboriginal people have already got much higher rates of diseases — cardiac, respiratory — and a lot more very sick and dead people could come then from this transmission.”
The NT is the first Australian jurisdiction to have eradicated the coronavirus and has recorded 28 days since the last case recovered from the virus.
South Australia recently re-opened its borders to visitors from WA, the NT, and Tasmania.
Does the Chief Minister realise that the school holidays in SA, WA and Tas finish on the 20th July and they have had no active Covid 19 cases for weeks ?
This means that NT tourism is not going to be able to get those much needed tourism dollars to keep their businesses running. If I was a tourism operator in NT I would be demanding that they open the border two weeks earlier.
I would really like to think the Covid19 virus has been eradicated but that’s what China thought and now they have reported another outbreak in Beijing. Uncertain times.