NT Government silent on Darwin taking all India repatriation flights from May 15

The Federal Government’s commitment to May 15 for the resumption of COVID-19 repatriation flights from India has been reaffirmed by the Federal Northern Australia Minister.

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NORTHERN Australia Minister Keith Pitt has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to May 15 for the resumption of COVID-19 repatriation flights from India as the NT Government dodged reports Howard Springs could be used exclusively for returned travellers from there.

The May 15 resumption date comes despite Chief Minister Michael Gunner repeatedly saying over the past two weeks that his advice has been for Indian repatriation flights to only resume in June.

Mr Pitt said the halt in COVID repatriation flights from India had been necessary to give the federal government and its health experts an opportunity to reassess the escalating threat posed by the spike in pandemic numbers on the subcontinent before flights resume on May 15.

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Mr Pitt would not be drawn on the likelihood of Darwin’s Howard Springs being used as Australia’s arrival point for the repatriation flights out of India.

NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles was the same when asked about reports that federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said the federal government wants to keep all arrivals from India at Howard Springs.

“We want to keep everyone there so we can maintain and manage that, to keep the numbers (of cases) under control,” Minister Alex Hawke told The Australian.

Another option being considered is understood to be repatriating Australians on flights that are carrying aid to the coronavirus-battered nation.

One such Qantas flight from New Delhi landed in Darwin today and its nine crew are now all in quarantine at Howard Springs.

Ms Fyles would not confirm the May 15 resumption date saying the Federal Government has been advised that the COVID numbers at Howard Springs have dropped from 55 to 29 active cases in the Territory and discussions are ongoing.

Indian repatriation flights were initially suspended because of concerns about skyrocketing cases within the Howard Springs quarantine facility, something Ms Fyles confirmed.

She said the issue of repatriated Australias from India coming to Darwin was one of hospital and health system capacity.

“We have the Howard Springs facility, the Commonwealth has fully funded the facility and we have worked around how that operates and as we saw when we reached very high numbers, they worked with us to stop those flights so we could manage it,” Ms Fyles said.

“There have been a number of conversations around India because the infection rate of the India flights of more than 15 per cent triggered the deferral of those flights just a couple of weeks ago.

“In terms of taking the flights from India we would have to look at the rates of infection and the numbers we could manage, not so much for the Howard Springs facility, but the health system behind it.

“In terms of quarantine, we can care for a small number (of cases) at Royal Darwin Hospital, but if we were starting to care for larger numbers. there is repatriation to interstate hospitals as part of the plan.

“We could also set up the National Critical Care and Response Unit at the Howard Springs facility.

“We need — in managing these flights back into Australia — to make sure we do not create a burden on the health system here in the Territory.

“We have a national partner agreement to run the facility and part of that agreement is that we work together to make sure the Northern Territory can safely manage the facility and the staffing and running of it.

“It is (that) when you see high COVID case numbers, ‘what’s the contingencies for that and being able to manage those people who become potentially very unwell?’.”

At one point, the Northern Territory’s health system was dealing with 55 active cases of COVID-19 at once, more than a third of the NT’s total cases since the pandemic began.

Active cases at Howard Springs have since fallen to 35.

Mr Gunner on Tuesday said the Territory’s ability to cope with COVID-19 cases wasn’t unlimited, and had previously pushed for more time to get the number of active infections down.