Vaccine pass removed from entertainment venues in the Northern Territory

Proof of vaccination is no longer required to enter venues including bars, pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, casinos, cinemas and theatres in the Northern Territory.

THE vaccine pass preventing unvaccinated patrons from entering licensed premises across the Territory has been scrapped.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles confirmed the change would be immediate from Tuesday morning.

Ms Fyles said the decision was based on advice from health authorities.

She said the changes were another step to living with Covid as the virus was stepped down from a pandemic to an endemic.

“This means Territorians and visitors don’t need to show their vaccine status when they go to a cafe or restaurant or any licensed premises,” she said.

“We will continue to work with our health authorities around the latest health advice.

“The advice was that we could safely remove the need to be vaccinated. A large number of Territorians are vaccinated and I thank everybody whose come forward.

“Please don’t think that the illness is not here, that Covid is not here. It’s in our communities so please make sure you get your vaccines.”

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce welcomed the removal of vaccine passports.

“This is a commonsense decision and I’m pleased the government has responded to changing circumstances,” he said.

With the Territory’s Covid case numbers increasing today to approximately 520, Ms Fyles said government was looking at the remaining measures.

“We’re looking at the other directions that remain in place just to make sure they’re agile that they respond to the latest health advice in keeping Territorians safe but allowing freedoms and trying to make life easier for everybody,” she said.

“We know that businesses, particularly small businesses, it has provided additional pressure on them and we thank them for that support. These measures are important.”

Ms Fyles would not rule out reintroducing measures such as mask mandates if Covid case numbers and hospitalisations increase.

“Territorians may see some public health measures such as mask wearing come back for a short sharp period,” she said. “We don’t intend at this stage to bring these measures back but I just want to remind people, we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re seeing those case numbers particularly with the BA-2 variant rising slightly.

“It would be a combination of the hospitalisations but also the case numbers and it would be, I imagine, to a geographical area so we would use those masks perhaps to an indoor setting or across the community just for a short period if we’re seeing a significant number of cases in a particular location in the Territory.

“Maybe just a few weeks and be very particular about the location and the settings.”

Ms Fyles indicated vaccine mandates would remain in place in “high-risk workplace settings