‘Sombre’ mood as passengers on-board Melbourne flight to Darwin caught out by hot spot announcement
THERE was dismay and relief at Darwin International Airport yesterday afternoon as a majority of passengers on-board an incoming Melbourne flight learned they would need to either go into quarantine or return to Victoria
Northern Territory
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THERE was dismay for some and relief for others at Darwin International Airport yesterday afternoon, as a majority of passengers on-board Jetstar flight JQ678 from Melbourne arrived to learn they would have to quarantine or turn back less than two hours after the NT government declared 10 Victorian suburbs as COVID-19 hot spots.
One of the lucky ones was Korine Doumis, a fly-in fly-out (FIFO) worker to the NT who lives in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.
She said she was relieved to be unaffected by the hot spot announcement.
“I missed out, thank God!” she said.
“The mood on the plane when it was announced was pretty sombre. There was a bit of an outroar.”
She said the NT classifying parts of Victoria as COVID-19 hot spots over the past year had been challenging given her FIFO work.
”One or two cases is all it takes to shut the borders now,” she said.
“I was stuck up here for nine months last year – so it has made things difficult.”
Brett Day, who flew in from Birregurra in regional Victoria, was also on a high after avoiding the hotspot restrictions.
“I’m quite happy. I thought I was going to get stuck,” he said.
Echuca arrival Mardi Stephenson said she felt for her fellow passengers who had been impacted by the hot spot announcement.
“I am a little bit concerned,” she said.
“It’s all good though – they’ll all get through. They’ll do what they’ve got do.”
“We’ve got to keep on top of it. (The hot spot declarations) are inconvenient, but it’s what we’ve got to do.”
There were a lot of worried faces among those waiting at the airport for loved ones to get off the plane.
Darwin resident Jan Flis was waiting for his grandson and his grandson’s girlfriend to arrive for a seven-day visit, and said he hoped they wouldn’t be required to quarantine as they had come from a Melbourne suburb not on the latest hot spot list.
“I’m a bit concerned about this whole episode,” he said.
“(My grandson) has been planning this since Christmas, to come up here and visit his grandfather and grandmother. so hopefully everything is clear.”
He said despite the possible disruption to his grandson's trip, he agreed with the NT government’s decision to declare parts of Victoria hot spots.
“I think you need to put down the clamps and really be strong about it because it can spread so fast – look at what’s happening overseas. So I can't disagree with that,” he said.
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Passengers who had been in any of the hot spot areas since January 29 were given the option to fly back to Melbourne or spend two weeks in quarantine at Howard Springs.
Those who opted to go into quarantine were ushered onto several buses waiting at the front of the airport to transport them.
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