National cabinet to discuss India flights as Howard Springs grapples with 24 COVID-19 cases
Howard Springs is dealing with 22 active cases of COVID-19 from India alone, as concern over the Territory’s repatriation flights makes it to national cabinet.
Northern Territory
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NATIONAL cabinet will meet today to discuss a “rapidly evolving” COVID-19 outbreak in India as Howard Springs sees a record number of active cases from the subcontinent.
There are currently 24 active cases at Howard Springs, 22 of which are returned travellers from India, which is recording 250,000 new cases daily.
The spike in quarantine cases comes as the federal government looks to hand over the keys to the international quarantine program to the NT government on May 3, which is less than two weeks away.
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When asked if suspending repatriation flights from India would be considered in today’s national cabinet, a Morrison government spokesman told the NT News the situation was being actively monitored.
“National cabinet is expected to receive further advice on the situation (today) before making any decisions,” the spokesman said.
“The Commonwealth government is working closely with its medical experts and states and territories to ensure the quarantine system is as safe for return travellers and staff as possible,” he said.
Yesterday, NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles refused to provide an update on how many new employees out of 400 had been recruited for the takeover of the international wing at Howard Springs.
“As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the figure was around 70,” Ms Fyles said.
“Recruitment has gone well and I’ll be looking forward to announcing in the coming days the full plans.”
Ms Fyles said the facility would continue to work with AUSMAT beyond May 3.
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said she had “grave concerns” about transferring the facility amid growing numbers of positive cases.
“The Howard Springs quarantine facility presents the greatest risk to the Northern Territory of COVID getting into our community,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“We can’t afford the Territory government to make a single mistake here.
“We have got no confidence the Territory government is going to be ready to go under this single governance model by the third of May.”
Ms Finocchiaro said it was “foolish” to throw away a system that had worked well.
Australian Medical Association NT president Robert Parker said any delay in hiring recruits to staff the Howard Springs facility would result in the cancelling of international repatriation flights.
“If we haven’t got the staff, we’re going to have to cut back on the expected numbers coming in,” Dr Parker said.
He said national cabinet needed to consider pausing the transition of the Howard Springs quarantine camp from AUSMAT into the control of the Northern Territory government.
Ms Fyles batted away criticism of the transfer, saying Ms Finocchiaro had “absolutely no credibility in this space”.
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