People released from quarantine as NT reopens to SA after pizza fib
The NT has reopened to all of South Australia from 9am today, following a chaotic week that culminated with revelations an infected pizza shop worker had lied to contact tracers in Adelaide.
Northern Territory
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THE NT has reopened to all of South Australia from 9am today, following a chaotic week that culminated with revelations an infected pizza shop worker had lied to contact tracers in Adelaide.
It means people who were forced to quarantine in the Territory after arriving from greater Adelaide in the last few days are allowed out, providing they test negative to COVID-19 and are not showing symptoms.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles, in a late afternoon press briefing on Friday, revealed that on Chief Health Officer Dr Hugh Heggie’s advice, the NT would revoke greater Adelaide as a hot spot from today.
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It was dependent on the coronavirus test results of South Australia’s 44 suspect cases, which officials confirmed Saturday morning were good..
The shock announcement came after bombshell revelations a man infected with coronavirus in Adelaide had lied to contract tracers.
The man, a medi-hotel kitchen hand, initially told SA Health he had ordered a pizza from the Woodville Pizza Bar but it turned out he had also been working there.
This meant authorities were able to close the loop on the man’s close contacts and who he could have infected, quashing initial fears that they had a superspreader event on their hands.
SA’s six-day lockdown wouldn’t have happened if the man had told the truth, with a “fuming” Premier Steven Marshall saying the employee’s conduct was “disgraceful”.
Those initial fears about an out of control cluster in South Australia also caused chaos in the NT after the government opted to declare the entire state a hot spot on Monday, prompting hundreds of people to flood across the border and triggering a meltdown of the quarantine system.
Ms Fyles declined to go into “what may or may not” have happened in the NT had the SA pizza worker been truthful but said authorities had “acted on the information we had before us at the start of the week”.
The tidal wave of arrivals from South Australia on Monday and Tuesday was the first test of the NT’s quarantine capacity capabilities – and the fallout was swift.
The NT’s surge capacity plan involves flying people from Alice Springs to quarantine in Darwin, but those moves were scuttled on Tuesday night after an errant bird struck and grounded the government charter plane.
Health authorities worked around the clock to find suitable quarantine accommodation and were eventually pushed to allow 137 people to isolate at home in the Red Centre.
By Wednesday morning Ms Fyles and Territory Families Minister Kate Worden were on the offensive, lashing out at Red Centre hoteliers who they alleged reneged on pacts to provide rooms.
It has since been revealed the government had no contracts with any hotels to provide surge capacity prior to this week, meaning those businesses were under no obligation to help.
Ms Worden has since conceded the government should have had “iron clad agreements” in place. Those are now being formed.
A total of 71 people were flown from Alice Springs to undertake quarantine at the Howard Springs facility and Ms Fyles has confirmed the government will bear the cost of flying them back if that’s where they need to go.
The blow to the Territory’s finances this week after providing free quarantine and chartering evacuation flights, is not yet known.
But Ms Fyles said the cost of “sitting back and doing nothing” would have been far greater.
“We certainly don’t apologise for the measures that we have to take to keep the community safe,” she said.
Echoing the SA Premier, Ms Fyles said the NT would make the same decisions of “acting fast and hard” should another potential cluster rear its head.
“The virus has shown us if we give it an inch, it will take a mile and we must act quickly and sharply to protect individuals,” she said.
Originally published as People released from quarantine as NT reopens to SA after pizza fib
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