NT Covid case ‘has no source match within Australia’; Gunner flags border jab rules
Chief Minister Michael Gunner says the NT’s recent Covid case has no known source match within Australia as he flagged introducing legislation requiring those entering the Territory to have at least one jab.
Northern Territory
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CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner is looking at the feasibility of introducing legislation requiring those entering the NT to have at least one jab.
It comes as the source of the Top End’s most recent Covid-19 case remains a mystery, with genomic sequencing of his infection not matching any samples detected in Sydney or Canberra.
The American citizen who travelled to the NT to work as a contractor for Defence and tested positive to Covid-19 quarantined in a Sydney hotel for two weeks.
Chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie said there was only a one-in-5000 chance he could’ve caught the virus in the US and only tested positive after leaving quarantine.
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Speaking on ABC Radio on Tuesday morning, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said efforts to determine where he’d picked up the virus had failed to find any match within Australia.
Mr Gunner also flagged that the NT government was looking into ways to mandate at least one vaccine dose for any arrivals into the Territory.
Western Australia recently introduced rules which require people from New South Wales entering the state to have at least one jab.
“I am seeking legal advice as to what I can and can’t do, WA has said you can’t come in unless you’ve had one jab, they’ve got legal advice and they can ask that question,” Mr Gunner said on ABC Radio.
“We’re doing our own work, the Solicitor General about what we can and can’t ask and what we can and can’t do, I think it’s very importnatn because it will inform a lot decisions we need to make going forward.”
Originally published as NT Covid case ‘has no source match within Australia’; Gunner flags border jab rules
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