‘I am personally terrified’: Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie on lifting border restrictions
THE Northern Territory’s Chief Health Officer says the NT’s domestic border controls will likely start to ease in the coming months
Northern Territory
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THE Northern Territory’s Chief Health Officer says the NT’s domestic border controls will likely start to ease in the coming months.
Dr Hugh Heggie joined Health Minister Natasha Fyles to provide a COVID-19 update this morning.
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“We have to be absolutely vigilant about this but in the coming months I think we may actually see domestic border controls being eased,” he said.
“I think that’s an important thing, certainly important for our economy and tourism.”
Dr Heggie said the NT could soon be in a position to possibly make an arrangement to ease border restrictions with states like Western Australia and South Australia.
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“It’s early days but it would seem, if you look at the numbers of cases in the western half of Australia, it is true that we’re seeing hardly any new numbers,” he said.
“So it is possible that we could have an arrangement with those jurisdictions but the risk is sometimes people can travel into South Australia from other places so we have to absolutely vigilant about this.”
Dr Heggie also issued a stern warning as restrictions start to ease across the Territory, saying he was “personally terrified” about a potential COVID-19 outbreak.
“I’m terrified because if we do have an outbreak here we need to be prepared for it,” he said.
“We need you to co-operate and I don’t want to see the dreadful harm that is done elsewhere in the world, the lives lost and the harm done.
“So, I want you to go and be safe. We need to support our businesses.
“But please don’t go overboard I don’t think it’s time to do a pub crawl.”
Pubs, cafes and restaurants will be allowed to open in the NT from May 15.
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The NT still has two active cases of COVID-19 remaining and over 5,500 people have been tested as of yesterday.
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