Territory records 459 new cases of Covid-19
There are 54 people in hospital with Covid-19 as the Territory’s Omicron wave continues to grow.
Northern Territory
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THE Northern Territory has recorded 459 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.
It comes as Yirrkal’s 72-hour lockdown was officially lifted at 2pm.
According to Secure NT, there were 54 people in hospital, incluing five people in acute care requiring oxygen.
One patient is in ICU.
The number of active cases has dropped again to 3970.
There has been no press conference given by authorities.
NT Covid cases of concern
Source: Secure NT
When Territory’s Omicron wave will peak
THE Territory’s Covid-19 outbreak will peak in the first week of February and is being fuelled by the hypercontagious Omicron variant, chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie has revealed.
But Dr Heggie was unable to say how many cases Territorians can expect when the wave crests in about two weeks’ time.
There were 418 new cases reported on Wednesday, with 48 people in hospital. There were no cases in intensive care, but seven people were requiring oxygen.
Speaking on Wednesday, Dr Heggie revealed genomic sequencing had demonstrated Omicron was making up 80 per cent of cases, with Delta making up the rest.
He said case numbers for Delta, which was a more serious strain of Covid-19, was slowly decreasing.
But the chief health officer warned Territorians not to underestimate the deadliness of Omicron.
“Someone who has comorbidities or lung disease, carries a lot of weight, actually puts them at higher risk and even younger persons have succumbed because of those other factors,” Dr Heggie said.
He said rudimentary modelling predicted case numbers to peak in the first week of February, as more Territorians returned back home from interstate.
“It doesn’t go to the number of cases, it goes to when the peak will occur.”
Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the health system was holding up at its current daily caseload, which was averaging around 450 cases of Covid a day.
Ms Fyles said she was confident the Territory’s health system would withstand the predicted peak.
“You can see that we have flattened that curve and we need to keep managing Covid in the Territory,” she said.
“I want to assure Territorians that our hospitals are prepared, our health system is prepared and our situation remains within the scope of our resources.”
An emergency meeting of health officials and local authorities from Groote Eylandt was being held on Wednesday afternoon, after three connected cases of unknown origin were detected on the island.
The vast majority of cases remain in Greater Darwin, but Ms Fyles said authorities were concerned about cases being detected in town camps around Alice Springs and five infections in Utopia.
There was a case detected at the Katherine watchhouse, three new cases at the Old Timers aged care home in Alice Springs and a case at a renal facility in Nightcliff.
NT records 418 cases of Covid-19
THERE are currently 48 people in Territory hospitals with Covid-19, as the NT records 418 new cases on Wednesday.
The number of new cases has declined since Tuesday which was a record breaking day when 625 cases were recorded.
Of the 48 people currently seven are in acute care requiring oxygen but currently none are in intensive care.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles said Territory hospitals were prepared.
“I want to assure Territorians that our hospitals are prepared, our health system is prepared and our situation remains within the scope of our resources,” Ms Fyles said.
“Our two week average is about 450 cases a day so you can see that we have flattened that curve and we need to keep managing Covid in the Territory.”
Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie confirmed 80 percent of cases in the Territory were the omicron variant while 20 percent were delta, with the latter variant trending downward.
UPDATE: Health Minister Natasha Fyles will deliver a Covid-19 update to Territorians from 12.30pm.
Ms Fyles will be joined by Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie.
The latest update comes a day after a record breaking day for Territory Covid cases with 625 new cases announced on Tuesday.
Record breaking day for Northern Territory
THE Northern Territory recorded a further 625 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, the most recorded on any one day so far.
The total number of active cases in the jurisdiction has now risen to 4142 with 43 currently in hospital, of which 27 are classified as being acute admissions.
Of the current active cases 2971 have a Territory address with 2114 being in the Greater Darwin area.
The record breaking day sees new case numbers lift to almost double that recorded on Monday.
However, Health Minister Natasha Fyles said while the numbers had lifted it was not a major concern.
“We do see numbers increase earlier in the week as we have less testing over the weekend,” Ms Fyles said.
“So an increase today but when you put it with the numbers we saw yesterday it’s still around that 500 range and is not greatly concerning to us.”
Covid alert ‘frustration’ with system not meeting community demands
HEALTH authorities have conceded the system built to alert Territorians to potential Covid exposures is not meeting community expectations.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles was forced to defended the NT Government’s text alert system, which alerts people that they were at an exposure site but does not include the time or location.
“I’ve certainly heard those frustration from my own family and friends and community,” Ms Fyles told the ABC.
“We’re hearing what the community would like it to do — the system is just not designed for that.”
Ms Fyles said the vague government texts gave low-risk contacts a reminder to monitor for symptoms, while high-risk contacts were managed by infected Territorians.
“So if we have those closed risk household contacts we’re relying on individuals to reach out,” she said.
On Friday the Government was forced to admit that zero texts were sent for more than a week.
Ms Fyles said since Covid was in every part of the Territory, residents had to accept the risk of infection with everything they did.
“It’s everywhere, so its about reminding people there’s a risk through those text messages,” she said.
“So we need Territorians to familiarise themselves with the likelihood that they will get Covid, but they’re protected through that vaccine and other steps that they can take.
“It’s part of our community now, and we’re continuing to take public health measures to slow the spread so that our health system can meet the requirements.”
It comes as health experts are anticipating the Territorian Covid spike to hit as school returns with warnings that there will be classroom infections.
With a Territorian peak expected in mid-February, teachers and students are expected to catch Covid in the early weeks of the new school year.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles told the ABC that in the lead up to the new school year there was a concern for a fresh rise in cases.
“We will see the virus in our schools, but we do need our children as much as possible for life to go on as normal and be attending the classrooms and the schools,” Ms Fyles said.
“But it will be a transition process as we go back to school, but we haven’t got any health advice that would see us delay the start of the school year at this point. “
Ms Fyles said all teachers and school staff were essential workers and had to be fully vaccinated, while a large majority of high school and middle school students were expected to have had both jabs.
She said there had been a significant uptake for the five to 11-year-old vaccinations.
“We’re seeing great numbers of families ensuring that their little ones have got that first dose,” she said.
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Originally published as Territory records 459 new cases of Covid-19
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