NT records 95 new Covid cases, bringing the number of active cases to over 300

The NT has recorded 95 new cases of Covid-19

UPDATE SUNDAY 4.30PM: THE Health Minister hasn’t ruled out future lockdowns if Covid-19 case numbers continue to rise.

Natasha Fyles made the statement on Sunday as the Territory broke its grim Covid daily case number record for the third time in a week.

Ms Fyles confirmed 95 new cases were recorded in the 24 hours to Sunday, including 14 cases of community transmission in the Top End.

She said health officials were considering harsher suppression measures, including a lockout to contain the spread.

“Our chief health officer is comfortable with the mask mandate that’s in place but we’re not ruling out into the future that we wouldn’t put in place further public health measures to keep the community safe,” Ms Fyles said.

She said the spike in cases came as fewer Territorians turned out for a swab, with testing rates dropping by a quarter to 1968 on New Year’s Day.

Ms Fyles said the latest cases were likely contracted before the mask mandate, warning that New Year’s celebrations were likely to cause another spike.

“Omicron is what we’re dealing with and that transmission is very quick and fast,” she said. “We will see case numbers continue to rise.”

Ms Fyles said these cases would inevitably overwhelm the Territory’s current public exposure alert system.

She said anyone checked in to a Covid exposure site would soon be contacted via a text asking them to monitor for symptoms. The text will not say where they were potentially exposed to Covid.

“We don’t want to paralyse the system because we’re trying to get every granular piece of information,” Ms Fyles said.

“We have to get as much information as practically out the door as quickly as possible.”

Ms Fyles said 549 close contacts had been confirmed but 140 of those were not in contact with health teams and may not know of their exposure.

“You should be of the view that you may come into contact with Covid, so use your hand sanitiser, wear your mask and make sure you check in so we can send you that text message.”

Earlier this week Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the Territory’s health system could handle between 30 to 100 daily cases.

On Sunday, Ms Fyles said this was based on Doherty Institute modelling, which did not take into account the reportedly less severe Omicron variant.

Ms Fyles said they were not considering calling in hospital resources from other states, despite six Royal Darwin Hospital workers testing positive after being in contact with interstate travellers.

“We have got strong plans in place to ensure that even with Covid in our community we can continue to maintain care,” she said.

Of the new cases, two were in Nhulunbuy linked to close contacts and an interstate arrival. Another cases include one connected to the Bagot cluster, one household contact from Katherine, three Jabiru cases connected to Darwin and two interstate travellers in Alice Springs.

UPDATE 2PM: The NT has recorded 95 new cases of Covid-19.

Of those, 14 cases are community transmission, 42 are interstate or international arrivals, 11 are close contacts of previous cases and 28 require further investigation to identify the source.

Of the 21 cases still under investigation at the time of Saturday’s statement, five were associated with community transmission.

There are cases reported in the last 24 hours in the greater Darwin area, Alice Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Jabiru.

Three cases in Jabiru are connected to cases in Darwin and are in isolation prior to returning to Darwin while two new cases in Nhulunbuy are close contacts of cases reported on Saturday and four cases are people who have returned from interstate.

Two cases in Alice Springs are interstate travellers, as were the cases reported on Saturday.

There is one new case in Katherine, who is a known household contact and all other cases are thought to be in the greater Darwin area.

There are currently 26 people with Covid-19 in hospital but only three are classified as acute hospital admissions.

There are 15 patients in Alice Springs Hospital, eight in Tennant Creek Hospital and three in Royal Darwin Hospital.

No patients are in ICU.

1968 COVID-19 tests were processed across the NT yesterday.

EARLIER 1.30PM: HEALTH Minister Natasha Fyles will give a Covid briefing this afternoon.

The Territory public health update follows a Security and Emergency Management Sub-committee of Cabinet meeting involving senior government ministers.

Ms Fyles is expected to give an update at 2.30pm from the parliament.

Secure NT has not yet released the latest Covid figures for January 2.

It comes as health authorities confirmed 114 new cases recorded from New Year’s Eve and January 1, a third of all 299 active cases in the Territory.

Originally published as NT records 95 new Covid cases, bringing the number of active cases to over 300