Covid-positive man at centre of Territory lockdown refusing to reveal vaccine status

Health authorities have been left baffled by the man at the centre of Darwin and Katherine’s Covid-19 lockdown, who won’t say whether he’s been vaccinated or not.

HEALTH authorities have been left frustrated by the man at the centre of Darwin and Katherine’s Covid-19 lockdown, who won’t say whether he’s been vaccinated or not.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner however said the man, aged in his 30s and who flew to Australia from the United States, has been helpful in answering all other lines of inquiry.

CHO Dr Hugh Heggie couldn’t explain why the man wouldn’t divulge his vaccination status. Picture: Che Chorley

Contact tracers are scrambling to track down the close and casual contacts of the man, with test results suggesting he was more infectious in Katherine than in Darwin.

“The index case has been extremely cooperative, apart from on one question: he won’t divulge his vaccination status,” Mr Gunner said.

“He may be vaccinated, but he won’t tell us.”

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Mr Gunner said he was most concerned about the Woolworths Katherine public exposure.

NT chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie also said it was highly unlikely the man caught the virus in the US, given he had tested negative on multiple occasions while quarantining in Sydney.

Wastewater samples were being rushed to Adelaide and genomic sequencing of the virus to determine whether it was the Delta strain was expected back by Wednesday morning.

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