Darwin man tests positive after returning from hot spot in Melbourne
The Northern Territory has recorded its first new coronavirus case in almost 100 days with a Darwin man testing positive after returning from Melbourne.
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A Northern Territory man returning from a Melbourne hot spot has tested positive for coronavirus.
The Darwin man aged in his 30s is the NT’s first new confirmed case of COVID-19 since April 6.
NT authorities said the man had quarantined in a Melbourne hotel for 14 days after returning from overseas and then spent time with family in one of the city’s 10 hot-spot postcodes while awaiting a flight to Darwin.
The man flew into Darwin from Brisbane on Monday on QF836 and returned a positive test result on Wednesday night.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the man had followed all the precautions and was now in the care of Royal Darwin Hospital in isolation.
She said there had been minimal contact with the broader community and contact tracing would be undertaken with people from the flight.
“We mustn’t become complacent around coronavirus, there is no cure, there is no vaccine,” Ms Fyles said.
“Territorians have worked hard and we must continue to do that.
“This is not a case of community transmission, this is a returned traveller who has come out of one of those hot spots in Melbourne and returned to Darwin.”
She said it was not yet known where the man contracted the virus, and Victorian authorities were contact tracing as well.
Victoria’s 10 hot-spot postcodes returned to stage three stay-at-home restrictions from midnight on Thursday, with people only allowed out for four reasons: shopping for food and supplies, care and caregiving, exercise, and study or work – if it can’t be done from home.
The NT had gone 86 days without a confirmed new case of coronavirus until Wednesday night.
NT chief health officer Hugh Heggie said everything they had put in place seemed to have worked, and Territorians need be assured there was no risk to the community.
“The traveller did actually have some symptoms, and he contacted the team to arrange a test,” he said.
Dr Heggie said although the man came from an area in Melbourne defined as a hot spot, he had done all of the right things.
He said the man was well and was displaying mild symptoms.
The man, who is understood to live by himself, had also been quarantining in Darwin after getting off the domestic flight.
“I understand (he) had followed all the rules and gone from the airport to his home and had no contact with the community,” Ms Fyles said.
“There’s minimal contact with the people on those flights and that tracing is now under way. Because this person has followed the rules there is minimal risk to our community.
“When the borders, those restrictions change again on July 17, it’s not suddenly travel between jurisdictions again but those local government areas … the clinical advice will designate those hot spots, and I believe over the coming months until we have a vaccine these areas will change.
“Right now we’re seeing an outbreak in Victoria in very specific local government areas, but going forward this could change, and we could see a situation in Queensland where we’ve got an outbreak perhaps in Cairns but people in Brisbane aren’t impacted.
“We need to be practical, we need to listen to the clinical advice so going forward for the Northern Territory on July 17 the quarantine will change to those local government areas.”
She said closing the borders to Victoria altogether was a “very simplistic response”.
“Victoria is a smaller geographical area and I can understand the concerns of Territorians seeing multiple cases each day, but they are within those local government areas,” Ms Fyles said.
“You may see outbreaks in a state that are geographically a long way from another location where someone may need to travel.”
The new case takes the state’s total to 31. All other confirmed cases have recovered. Those seated near the man on flight QF610 from Melbourne to Brisbane and QF836 from Brisbane to Darwin will be contacted by NT Health staff.
Originally published as Darwin man tests positive after returning from hot spot in Melbourne