Chief Minister says 80 per cent vaccination rate still not high enough for remote communities to protect them

New modelling has showed an 80 per cent vaccination rate for NT remote communities is still not adequate enough.

UPDATE: CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner announced this week the NT was on track to hit the mark of 80 per cent of Territorians aged over 16 vaccinated by next Monday at the latest but also revealed new modelling that showed that figure would not be good enough for remote communities.

Mr Gunner said the younger populations in those communities meant the target there would now shift to 80 per cent vaccination rates for everyone over the age of five.

As a vaccine for children aged 11 and under may not be approved until next year, Mr Gunner said additional social and public health measures would be required to ensure Covid-19 did not find its way into those communities in the meantime.

He said health workers would “surge” into any remote community where the virus ended up to conduct a vaccine blitz and while it would not prevent loss of life, it would “reduce hospitalisation to a point we can manage in our existing hospital system”.

“I will state the bleeding obvious with an exclamation mark – the higher the vaccination rate, the lower the hospitalisations and deaths,” he said.

“It’s better that people get the ­vaccine before there is a case than after a case but if there is a case, we will be there with a vaccine every time.”

From next Monday, any NT community with a first dose rate below 70 per cent will be considered a “low-vax community”.

“Anyone who enters a remote, low-vax community from Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine or from outside of the Territory must wear a mask for seven days at all times while in public,” Mr Gunner said.

“This applies every time anyone goes to these places; this will apply whether you’re a resident of that community or worker. We know masks play a strong role in preventing the spread of the virus and this will provide an added layer of protection.”

From next Friday, anyone entering those communities will also have to have had a rapid antigen test within the previous 72 hours.

EARLIER: THE lockdown in Katherine will end at 5pm today while hundreds more potential close contacts with a positive Covid-19 case have been identified in Darwin.

The current lockout rules in the Top End capital have been extended by 24 hours until midnight on Tuesday while further contact tracing is conducted.

On Monday afternoon, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said while there were no new cases recorded overnight, the 21-year-old source case had revealed several other exposure sites.

Mr Gunner said the woman had visited Wharf One last Wednesday evening and the Noonamah Tavern and Humpty Doo Hotel on Melbourne Cup day.

He said a failure by hundreds of punters at the race day celebrations to check in made contact tracers’ job much more difficult than it needed to be.

“It was a busy day at the venue, the source contact spent just over four hours at the Noonamah Tavern,” he said.

“We believe there were about 350 people who frequented the hotel during that period but we had just 47 check-ins.”

Mr Gunner said in Katherine the vast majority of contacts had returned negative tests and the lockdown would lift, although masks will be required when not social distancing until 5pm on Friday.

EARLIER: CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner, acting chief health officer Charles Pain and Territory Controller Jamie Chalker are expected to make the next Top End Covid-19 update mid-Monday afternoon.

It comes after a number of new public exposure sites were added on Monday, including the popular Noonamah Tavern and the Humpty Doo Hotel.