Health Minister refuses to say if hundreds of military officials flying into Darwin are coming from countries with contagious COVID-19 strains

HUNDREDS of foreign military officials and their families will fly into Darwin and undertake quarantine throughout January, but it is unknown where they will quarantine or if they’re coming from countries with a contagious COVID-19 variant.

• Defence personnel from ‘multiple countries around the world’ quarantining at unidentified Darwin site

HUNDREDS of foreign military officials and their families will fly into Darwin and undertake quarantine throughout January to take part in training with the Australian Defence College.

The NT News understands the first group of officials arrived in Darwin yesterday, with more to fly in throughout the month.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the officials would undertake quarantine at a “stand-alone facility”, with Defence providing its own security.

“I’m unable to name that specific facility for security reasons but I can assure Territorians that the whole facility is being utilised by Defence, who have a proven track record and have the highest standards,” she said.

“There is very strict plans around that have been worked through with our Chief Health Officer, and these plans extend to if we were to see any emergency situations non-COVID related — how would we respond to noting that these people are in quarantine.

“Department of Health has certainly been heavily involved in the plans, as has the Territory controller, and we’re comfortable with the arrangement that has been put in place.”

Hundreds of foreign military officials and their families will fly into Darwin and undertake quarantine throughout January to take part in training with the Australian Defence College.

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Ms Fyles said the officials were from “multiple countries around the world” but would not specify if they were from countries with strains of contagious coronavirus variants such as the United States or United Kingdom.

The Department of Defence was yesterday unable to respond to questions about how many people would be arriving in the NT, where they were coming from or if they would be interacting with the community.

However, a statement from Defence released on Sunday stated that all officials and dependants would undergo mandatory supervised quarantine and be required to return a negative COVID-19 exit test before being released.

“All foreign military officials, and any dependants, will arrive into Darwin and undertake quarantine, before continuing on to their ultimate posting locations in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria,” it read.

The training program provides an opportunity for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to build relationships with international military personnel.

The Territory has recorded three cases of COVID-19 among military personnel since the pandemic began.

On May 1 NT Airports was advised four passengers on board an ADF charter flight, which landed at Darwin International Airport, tested positive for COVID-19 in the Middle East on April 29.

A Department of Defence spokesman later revealed further testing at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) showed two of the four personnel had returned negative results and were put back into mandatory quarantine, while the other two were isolated at RDH.

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On July 10 a 21-year-old US marine tested positive after flying into the Territory on July 8.

Defence confirmed he tested positive at an initial screening on arrival in Darwin, and was a “low risk”, having been in quarantine with no contact with the public.

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