Hawthorn, Gold Coast Darwin AFL game postponed as NT declares Greater Melbourne and Bendigo Covid-19 hot spots

UPDATE:The Northern Territory has declared Greater Melbourne and Bendigo Covid-19 hot spots. This has forced organisers to postpone the AFL game between Hawthorn and the Gold Coast in Darwin on Saturday.

• Howard Springs facility now fully under NT Government control
• Emergency lockdown talks as SA closes border to Melbourne

THE AFL game between Hawthorn and the Gold Coast in Darwin has been postponed until later in the season, as a Covid-19 cluster in Melbourne grows.

It comes as the NT late Wednesday night changed the border rules for anyone arriving from Melbourne as the cluster in the southern city grew to 15.

Anyone who arrived in the NT between May 12 and 12am Thursday (May 27) from Greater Melbourne or the City of Bendigo must self isolate until they receive a negative Covid-19 test.

They do not have to isolate for a full 14 days after they receive the negative test.

However, those arriving after 12am, including those on a flight arriving at 12.25am Thursday, will have to quarantine for 14 days at Howard Springs.

It comes as authorities in Victoria are locked in emergency talks as they debate putting Melbourne back into lockdown - a potential five day circuit breaker.

On Wednesday they said the next 24 hours would be “critical” as health authorities weighed up a lockdown after six new cases of Covid-19 were announced. A total of 10 new local infections uncovered on Tuesday, while a 15th case linked to the northern suburbs outbreak emerged on Wednesday morning.

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On Tuesday night the NT’s acting chief health officer Charles Pain was working with Victoria’s three ‘tier’ exposure site system, and allowing arrivals to self-isolate at home.

It’s understood the NT Government was not expecting the Melbourne cluster to grow as rapidly as it had but by Wednesday night, it was planning to return to using Howard Springs for Melbourne arrivals.

The cancellation of the AFL game came hours after Hawthorn moved forward their plans to travel north as the Melbourne cluster continued to grow. The travelling Hawthorn squad were set to arrive in Darwin Thursday, leaving Melbourne at 8am.

On Wednesday morning, AFL NT chief executive Stuart Totham remained confident the match would go ahead, saying it was “full steam ahead”.

But in the space of 10 hours, it had been cancelled.

The outbreak has also thrown doubt over next week’s blockbuster top four clash between the Melbourne Demons and Brisbane Lions in Alice Springs.

The Demons’ planned trip on Thursday, June 3 to Santa Teresa, 80km south-east of Alice Springs, has already been cancelled.

The team was set to attend an opening ceremony of the Santa Teresa Oval, which has been re-grassed with support from the club, but the visit was cancelled after instructions from the Atyenhenge Atherre Aboriginal Corporation.

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