Travellers to quarantine at home as Alice Springs facility nears capacity
In a Territory-first, travellers will be monitored digitally from their own home as they complete a fortnight quarantine, as Alice Springs’ quarantine facility nears capacity.
Northern Territory
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A SURGE in Territorians returning from interstate has led the government to place some people in home quarantine in Alice Springs.
The NT government said on Sunday that it was allowing quarantine-at-home arrangements for 17 local residents with a “rigorous compliance system”.
The government said the move was in order to “help manage the number of Territorians returning to the NT”.
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It comes as roughly half of Australia’s population remain in declared Covid-19 hotspots, including Greater Sydney, which recorded two deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours.
In a statement on Sunday, the NT Government said those doing home quarantine would be subject to “stringent physical compliance checks” from police and environmental officers.
“As a further measure to ensure compliance, a digital monitoring system (G2G) will also be activated to make sure people are strictly in their place of quarantine,” the statement said.
“This is an additional compliance tool that will enable the Emergency Operations Centre to carry out strict digital compliance checks on people approved to quarantine at home.”
The government said similar measures had been successfully deployed in Western Australia.
Home quarantine would only be used when the Alice Springs quarantine camp was nearing capacity, and only for people deemed “low-risk” who had tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19.
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