Sydney hot spot status decision set for Monday, as vaccine ad blitz details for First Nations communities revealed

TERRITORIANS can expect to find out by Monday when the hot spot status of Greater Sydney will be revoked. It comes as the federal government reveals how its COVID-19 vaccine ad blitz will be shaped for First Nations communities.

TERRITORIANS can expect to find out by Monday when the hot spot status of Greater Sydney will be revoked as Kiwi travellers to the jurisdiction are given the all clear.

It comes as health officials gear up for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, with the federal government officially launching a $24m ad blitz on Wednesday.

The campaign will inform Australians when, how and where they can get the jab as vaccines become available.

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The NT News can reveal the ad campaign will be adapted for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences, with the Health Department saying “Indigenous leaders” will play a key role in getting the message across in communities.

Media channels specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders will be contracted to broadcast the ads, with information to be translated into 15 Indigenous languages for radio. “Campaign messaging has been shared to state and territory health departments, including to the NT government, so they can share and adapt messaging for the jurisdictions’ individual needs,” a health spokeswoman said.

Territory health authorities say they were still working with the commonwealth and community partners to finalise the COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan in the NT.

Queensland’s chief health officer has said the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine will initially be restricted to the state’s major cities until more travel-friendly variants become ­available.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which received provisional approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration this week, needs to be stored in temperatures of -70C.

The AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored and transported at normal refrigeration temperatures of 2C to 8C.

The NT News understands a decision on the hot spot status of the nine remaining Sydney LGAs will be made by Monday, the date NSW would record 14 days with no community transmission if its current streak is unbroken.

Meanwhile, none of the 55 New Zealanders who had arrived in the Territory in the past two weeks had been in areas impacted by a case in the country of a woman contracting the highly transmissible South African variant of COVID-19.

The NT, in line with the commonwealth shutting off the trans-Tasman bubble in light of the virus scare, decreed that anyone who left New Zealand after 2pm on Monday would be put in to the Howard Springs quarantine facility if they came into the Territory.

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SecureNT confirmed there were no Kiwis in Howard Springs quarantine facility as of Wednesday.

The international wing is currently housing 561 repatriated Australians.