Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young reveals why NT named Toowoomba a hotspot

The reasoning for the Northern Territory’s declaration of Toowoomba as a COVID-19 hotspot has been explained.

The reasoning behind Toowoomba’s hotspot declaration by the NT Government has been explained.

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young has revealed why the Northern Territory has listed Toowoomba as a COVID-19 hotspot.

Dr Young said there was a large group of people from Toowoomba who had visited a “venue of concern” in Brisbane and then gone back to Toowoomba.

“We’ve not had any positive cases amongst that group but they were at one of the venues of concern,” she said.

“So that’s why the CHO in the Northern Territory gave that advice to his government.”

Dr Young said the NT’S CHO told her they’d had some people who had been in Toowoomba “and they were just a bit concerned they’d come back”.

“We’ve got to remember the NT is very high risk because of their high first nations number of people and their high (numbers of) remote indigenous communities, so he made a decision, which I totally support”.

“It’s just being ultra-cautious.”

Dr Young said that did not mean she was particularly concerned about Toowoomba, but added “it’s an area we are looking at – as we are the entire state”.

“The message here is that people should be on alert, no matter where they are in Queensland,
she said.

“I don’t think it matters whether you’re in Gladstone, or Toowoomba, or the Gold Coast. It’s anywhere in Queensland because people have been very mobile since March 20 – and why wouldn’t people have been mobile?”

Anyone who has been in Toowoomba since Friday, March 26 and arrives in the NT must self-isolate and get tested.

NT’s Chief Minister Michael Gunner has himself gone into isolation after meeting with family members over the weekend who travelled from Toowoomba.

Toowoomba was declared a hotspot by the NT government on Monday afternoon.