‘We are all at risk’: NT Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie urges Territorians to be vigilant after Covid case at Territory mine
Chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie has warned Territorians and visitors to be vigilant, stating ‘we are all at risk’, after a Covid-19 case was detected at a mine in the NT on Friday.
Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
CHIEF health officer Dr Hugh Heggie has warned Territorians and visitors to be vigilant, stating “we are all at risk”, after a Covid-19 case was detected at a mine in Central Australia on Friday.
Leaders are urging people to be calm and not panic buy as contact tracers work to find those who could have been in contact with the man at the Newmont Corporation Granites Gold Mine in the Tanami Desert.
“The information that we will get over the coming hours and days, we will share with you, but I want to make very clear, that we are at risk,” Dr Heggie said.
MORE TOP NEWS
Fresh charges laid against Zachary Rolfe over Yuendumu shooting just three weeks out from trial
CLP dumps Sam McMahon for Jacinta Price in Senate preselection battle
Croc viewing platforms planned for Cahills Crossing move a step closer as tenders open
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said it is believed the man became infected during an overnight stay at a Brisbane quarantine hotel on June 18 while transiting to the mine from Bendigo, Victoria.
“On the 24th of June, he received a text message from NSW Health advising the hotel in Brisbane was a potential exposure site and he immediately isolated and got tested,” he said.
“He received the message from NSW as his driver’s license is currently from that state.
“As soon as his test came back positive, around midnight, approximately 12 hours ago, the director of the Centre for Disease Control was notified, and our emergency procedures kicked in.”
The man is asymptomatic and well and is under the care of NT Health and is being transferred to the Centre for National Resilience along with 70 close contacts at the mine.
A further 754 people at the mine are in isolation at the site while contact tracers contact some 900 FIFO workers who left the site since June 18 to locations across Australia.
Mr Gunner said on Saturday night of the 900 people who had left the mine 33 were in Alice Springs and 211 in Darwin.
“Of the 244 – 20 are considered close contacts and they have all been reached and are now in secure quarantine,” he said.
“One in Alice Springs has moved into the Todd Quarantine Facility, and one from Katherine and 19 from Darwin have moved into the Centre for National Resilience at Howard Springs.”
The man tested positive to an as yet unknown strain of Covid-19, but which is likely the highly infectious Delta strain.
Dr Heggie urged people to continue checking into places so in the event of an outbreak contact tracers could find them.
“This is an evolving situation, we have a single case that needs to be investigated and explored,” he said.
“Please use a check-in app. Preferably the Territory check-in app, and don’t just use it for 15 minutes or more, consider using it all of the time, in every place you go, because it greatly assists with contact tracing.”
Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said extra police had been sent down to the mine site with extra PPE supplies.
He said those in quarantine at the site were abiding by orders.
“For all intents and purposes, we can turn (the mine site) into a quarantine facility … and we have the relevant expertise and skill sets to be able to do that,” he said.
Mr Chalker said work was underway to ensure nearby communities were aware of the situation.
‘Unmitigated disaster’: Legal Aid to cut services due to underfunding
NT Legal Aid is threatening to cut crucial services due to underfunding, in a move that could see criminals walk free and push a system at breaking point ‘over the edge’.
Social media videos fuelling youth crime, warn NT Police
Police warn videos of illegal activity posted online could be encouraging young Territorians to act up, as the government commits to new laws cracking down on ‘posting and boasting’ on social media.