‘Critical period’: Contact tracers scramble to find 180 close contacts of Buff Club case
About 180 patrons of a popular Darwin pub have been deemed close contacts, as an extension of the Top End’s lockdown buys contact tracers crucial time in the race to stop the Delta strain.
Northern Territory
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DARWIN’S lockdown has been extended until Friday as health authorities scramble to trace at about 180 close contacts of a positive Covid-19 case.
A second locally acquired case of the highly contagious Delta strain was confirmed in Darwin on Monday, prompting health officials to open up surge testing at the Sitzler Netball Stadium in Marrara.
The infected man, aged in his 50s, was the seventh case nationwide associated with the growing Tanami gold mine outbreak.
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The man visited the Buff Club on the Stuart Hwy, Stuart Park on Friday between 3.30pm and 8pm, and the venue is being treated as high-risk.
Anyone at the Buff Club in between those times, as well as their household contacts, must self-isolate for 14 days, either at their home or in Howard Springs.
The man also visited Corner Store Friendly Grocer Stuart Park between 3.20pm and 3.30pm, and on Saturday went into BWS Parap on Parap Rd between 11.50am and 12.10pm, Bunnings Warehouse at Bagot Rd between 10.30 and 10.40am, Commonwealth Bank on Smith Street in Darwin’s CBD between 11.30 and 11.45am.
Contacts of those sites will be required to isolate until they receive a negative result.
Darwin International Airport has been deemed low-risk between 1.30 and 3.35pm Friday, with travellers urged to get a test if they develop any symptoms.
They are the first public exposure sites listed by the NT government since the pandemic began.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the man had been in the community for 36 hours, prompting the extension of the Greater Darwin lockdown until 1pm Friday.
“The risk to the community has grown in the past 24 hours, we are now in an extremely critical period,” Mr Gunner said.
“What greatly concerns us is the potential for exposure to others.”
Mr Gunner said the man was a close contact of another positive case and was contacted on June 26 before being transferred to Howard Springs.
He spent time with seven individuals at a home in Rapid Creek.
Extra testing capacity was being stood up in response to the crisis, with anyone experiencing Covid-19 symptoms urged to get tested.
Mr Gunner however refused to be drawn on whether he was unhappy about the pace of the vaccine rollout, or whether Queensland’s hotel quarantine system was to blame for the outbreak.
The Chief Minister said those topics would be discussed at an emergency national cabinet which began on Monday afternoon.
Deputy chief health office Dr Charles Pain said health authorities were “in a race” to identify exposed individuals.
“We are working extremely hard day and night to pursue those people, identify them and take appropriate action,” Dr Pain said.
“It’s a scenario that we in some respected expected, and I’m sure – as the Chief Minister said – we will get on top of it.”
NT Police commissioner Jamie Chalker said compliance with lockdown directions and the mandatory wearing of masks had seen high levels of compliance.
Mr Chalker scenes of panic buying seen on Sunday afternoon had been caused by “a large cohort of tourists”.
“Despite the messaging, despite being very clear about the fact that you all didn’t need to surge there, some people just simply went into panic mode.”
“The supermarkets are open, we ask only a single member of each household goes and undertakes the shopping.”
The virus associated with the Tanami gold mine outbreak has been confirmed to be the infectious Delta variant, which is believed to be far more infectious than previous strains of Covid-19.
It’s understood the first case caught the virus from an international traveller while quarantining in a Brisbane Hotel.
Recent outbreaks of Delta in Sydney and Melbourne have been transmitted from person to person in a matter of second, after just ‘fleeting’ contact.
A separate outbreak of Delta has plunged Greater Sydney into a two-week lockdown.
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