US Marine tests positive for coronavirus after flying into Darwin to join the Marine Rotational Force

A 21-YEAR-OLD US Marine has tested positive for coronavirus after flying into the NT to join the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin

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A RECENTLY-arrived US Marine has tested positive in Darwin for coronavirus while in mandatory quarantine.

His is the second coronavirus case in the NT in July.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said she had “limited information” but could reveal the US Marine had arrived in the NT on a chartered flight a few days ago and went through the military side of the Darwin Airport.

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The 21-year-old man had been in quarantine since arriving in Darwin on July 8.

The man has been in quarantine ever since and is “low risk” to the wider Territory community. He has had no contact with the public.

The Department of Defence has confirmed the man tested positive at an initial screening on arrival in Darwin.

As announced on 6 May, a modified deployment of Marine Rotational Force Darwin would proceed this year, following careful planning and preparations undertaken by both Australia and the United States to minimise COVID-19 risks to the Northern Territory.

He has been transferred from the Roberston Barracks to the Royal Darwin Hospital.

His symptoms are mild.

In May the NT News reported US Marines would be screened for coronavirus four days before departing their Okinawa base in Japan.

Upon arrival in the Top End they would be screened again, then quarantined for 14 days in “specially prepared defence facilities in the Darwin area”.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles will give an update about a new case of coronavirus in the NT. Read story here: https://bit.ly/3iMbDYR

Posted by The NT News on Thursday, 9 July 2020

All US Marines would be given their own rooms for the duration of their quarantine.

Each US Marine would then be retested once the quarantine period is over.

The Department of Defence said all US personnel who arrived with the US Marines and may have interacted with the infected man will continue to be monitored during their mandatory 14 day quarantine.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles and Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie announce a new COVID-19 case in the NT. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

The case comes a week after a Darwin local in his 30s tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home from Pakistan via a stint in Melbourne.

He spent 14 days in hotel quarantine in Melbourne and after being cleared spent a few days with family who lived in a declared coronavirus hotspot in that state.

He then flew to Darwin, via Brisbane, on Qantas Flight 836 arriving on Monday. His flight code from Melbourne to Brisbane was QF610.

He felt unwell while self-isolating at his home in Darwin.

NT authorities confirmed about 30 people who travelled on the Brisbane to Darwin flight had been contacted within hours of being identified as close contacts.

“We identify close contacts by extensively interviewing the confirmed case. When we call the close contacts, or trace them, NT authorities immediately ask them to self-quarantine,” a spokesman said.

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“Then follows a lengthy interview and an offer to conduct initial testing that day, or the next.

“They are then offered a further test from day 10 -13.”