US Marines out of NT quarantine

THE first contingent of US Marines to touch down in Darwin will end their 14-day quarantine period today, with the Department of Defence confirming none of them tested positive during their initial COVID-19 swab

The first group of 200 US Marines touched down in Darwin on June 2. (AAP Image/Supplied by Royal Australian Navy)

THE first contingent of US Marines to touch down in Darwin will end their 14-day quarantine period today, with the Department of Defence confirming none of them tested positive during their initial COVID-19 swab.

The first group of 200 US Marines touched down in Darwin on June 2 as part of a slimmed down version of the annual Marine Rotational Force military exercise in the Top End.

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A Department of Defence spokesman said the number of US Marines was meant to grow to 1200 over a series of phases for eight weeks from June 2, though specific arrival dates won’t be provided to the media.

All 200 of those US Marines returned negative results for COVID-19 following their test upon arrival.

The US Marines will be tested again before leaving the quarantine facility.

All US Marines will have their own rooms for the duration of their quarantine, away from Australian personnel.

The troops will “exercise exclusively at defence training areas in the NT until September.

No training will occur in the identified biosecurity zones.

MRF-D was initially postponed due to the threat of coronavirus but was reinstated in early May after high-level conversations between the two allied nations.

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According to a KPMG report, the 2016 deployment of 1250 US Marines injected $7.5 million into the NT economy.