Parts of NSW to be declared hotspots by the NT as cluster cases rise

PARTS of New South Wales are expected to be declared coronavirus hotspots by Northern Territory authorities today, barring travellers from free entry amid a growing cluster of cases.

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PARTS of New South Wales are expected to be declared coronavirus hotspots by Northern Territory authorities today, barring travellers from free entry amid a growing cluster of cases.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles has also not ruled out delaying the Friday reopening of NT’s borders completely, a move that would be welcomed by increasingly anxious Territory medical bodies.

But delaying the reopening of borders as a whole is understood to be at the extreme end of options for the government.

The NT’s declaration of new hotspots is expected this morning, after a late evening briefing between Chief Health Officer Dr Hugh Heggie, Ms Fyles and Chief Minister Michael Gunner.

It comes after NSW recorded 13 new cases yesterday, bringing the number of infections related to southwest Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel cluster to 28.

Queensland has already named two Sydney suburbs, Campbelltown and Liverpool, as hot spots meaning anyone who has travelled there in the past 14 days will have to go into mandatory quarantine at an approved facility at their own expense.

South Australia, which was due to open its borders to NSW and ACT on Monday, officially revealed it would scrap the date. Territorians can still go to SA without quarantining.

Victoria recorded a further 270 coronavirus cases yesterday. The state has 26 patients in intensive care and 21 people on ventilators.

The NT has logged no new cases since July 10, though Ms Fyles confirmed the two active cases that remain – a Darwin man who returned from overseas via Melbourne and a US Marine who travelled via Okinawa – are still being cared for at Royal Darwin Hospital

Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills, pointing at data that shows NT has the lowest rate of testing in the country, blasted the government for not declaring NSW and ACT a hot spot just like Victoria and said it was “sheer luck” that the Territory had dodged “real exposure” to COVID-19.

Ms Fyles, revealing nearly 2200 people were tested in the Territory last week, said it was inappropriate to compare jurisdictions like the NT, which had no community transmission or death, to places like Victoria, which was in the grip of an unprecedented health crisis.

The number of COVID-19 swabs taken in Victoria on Monday was 21,995.

People who flout quarantine rules could also soon face harsher penalties, with Ms Fyles not ruling out tougher measures similar to Queensland’s threat of six months in prison for those who put the community at risk.

But she also refused to say why a 25-year-old man caught breaching self-quarantine rules three times hadn’t been thrown into the Howard Springs facility.

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Aboriginal Medical Services Association NT chief executive John Paterson said it was cases where people breached self-quarantine rules that proved mandatory hotel quarantine needed to be brought back for interstate travellers coming from hot spots, and for rule breakers to be given no second chances.

“It’s not good enough, it’s posing a huge risk to the community,” he said.

“From AMSANT’s perspective if we see that increase in cases again, we just need to close the borders for the safety of the NT’s population.”