Chief Minister Michael Gunner announces conditions for home quarantine pilot

Home quarantine is coming to certain parts of the NT as soon as late November, with the Chamber of Commerce welcoming the move as a step in the right direction.

UPDATED: A SELECT group of vaccinated returning Territorians will be able to participate in a home quarantine trial from Tuesday, as the Northern Territory begins opening itself up to living with Covid-19.

If the trial is successful, home quarantine will be allowed from about November 23. It could be shortened to just seven days by late December and abolished completely by the end of January.

Under the pilot program unveiled by Chief Minister Michael Gunner on Monday, 100 fully vaccinated Darwin residents returning from interstate hotspots will quarantine at home, avoiding Howard Springs and the $2500 price tag. The residents will quarantine at home for two weeks and be subject to six Covid-19 tests after their arrival. A second trial will start on November 1 in Alice Springs with 30 participants, before the scheme is opened up to all Territorians in eligible areas on approximately November 23.

Interstate destinations would be designated one of three statuses depending on the risk of Covid infection. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

To qualify, the returning travellers must be in an area with 4G mobile coverage and will need to be living in a community where double-dose vaccination rates have exceeded 80 per cent.

Mr Gunner flagged that the new scheme would be the first step towards opening the NT’s borders up to Covid-impacted states such as Victoria and New South Wales.

A green-orange-red traffic light system for domestic Covid hotspots will be in place by the time home quarantine arrangements are offered on November 23. Life would also remain relatively normal for fully vaccinated Territorians in the event of an outbreak of the virus, while unvaccinated Territorians would be confined to their homes for all but the most essential of activities.

“This is the first of several stages that will allow easier movement in and out of the Territory, while minimising the spread and severity of Covid when it is in the Territory,” Mr Gunner said.

Returning travellers would be allowed to stay at home for 14 days rather than head to Howard Springs. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

Residents in areas with vaccination rates below 80 per cent will still be required to quarantine at either the Howard Springs quarantine facility or The Todd facility in Alice Springs. Mr Gunner expressed confidence about the ability for most communities to achieve 80 per cent double-dose vaccinated in coming months.

“The majority of Aboriginal remote communities, particularly in the Top End where the largest communities are, are actually a high vax rate,” he said. He referred to vaccine-hesitant communities in Central Australia as “isolated patches of concern”.

Only fully vaccinated Territorians can take part in the scheme. Picture Julianne Osborne

Mr Gunner said the government was still working out the Territory’s public health measures for remote communities that failed to reach the 80 per cent double-dosed rate.

He said the government would look at options including preventing unvaccinated Territorians from doing certain activities while leaving the vaccinated to “continue to participate in the economy” in an outbreak. Deputy chief health officer Charles Pain said a traffic light system for interstate hotspots would be in place before November 23, with orange zones designated for areas with exposure sites.“The red and green (zones) are quite simple,” Dr Pain said.

“We’ve had red zones

EARLIER: ELIGIBLE Territorians must be fully vaccinated and be compliant with regular check-ins and testing if they want to quarantine at home.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced the conditions for which Territorians will be allowed to quarantine at home, with a pilot beginning on Tuesday.

The four week trial will involve 100 people participating in the trial in Darwin and about 30 people in Alice Springs from November 1.

Eligible people must be:

– Fully vaccinated

– Be compliant with the Good to Go app

– Stay in a house, apartment, hotel or Airbnb

– Supply a negative PCR test less than 72 hours before entering the NT

– Agree to be tested on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 12 and 17

– Stay in a ‘high vax’ zone with an 80 per cent double dose rate, stay in an area with a police presence and adequate testing facilities nearby and has access to 4G phone coverage.

Eligible Territorians can stay at a residence with friends and family but anyone else in the household must be double vaccinated, comply with the same testing regimen and not have visitors at the residence. Other residents must also not leave their high vax zone until they have received a day 17 negative test.

Home quarantine will be free but anyone staying in hotels or Airbnbs must cover the private costs.

Phase two of the home quarantine rollout, once the pilot is complete, will allow eligible people travelling to the NT from a red zone to quarantine at home in high vaccinated zones. Home quarantine will run for 14 days.

Australians repatriated from overseas must continue to enter 14-days quarantine at Howard Springs.

Unvaccinated travellers from red zones can still enter the NT with a permit but must quarantine at the Centre for National Resilience or Alice Springs facility and pay $2500.

EARLIER: The days of expensive, protracted spells in hotel quarantine or at Howard Springs will be phased out, with the Chief Minister today outlining new home quarantine rules for the double vaccinated.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner is expected to announce a pilot scheme to trial home quarantining.

It is understood around 100 people will take part in the pilot, which is expected to begin shortly.

Today’s announcement is expected to outline who will be eligible and from where they can travel.

The announcement will detail strict conditions the Government wants to impose as part of its home quarantine regimen.

Earlier this month, the Chief Minister announced a “no fee” arrangement for double-vaxxed people in home detention.

“There has to be an advantage to being double-dosed,” he said. I think that’s a pretty significant financial advantage of being double-dosed, so it’s not just about being able to quarantine at home, it’s not carrying the cost either.”

Chief Minister Michael Gunner will outline new home quarantine rules for the double vaccinated. Picture Julianne Osborne

The Chief Minister said at the time that once the Territory reached 80 per cent double dose vaccinated, the Government would be able to ‘make a change in our quarantine arrangement that is friendly to Territorians”.

Federal Health Department modelling updated on Sunday shows the Territory is expected to hit the 70 per cent second vaccination mark between November 22-27 and 80 per cent double vaccination between December 16-21 for Territorians 16 and over.

The same forecasting indicates the Territory will be the last Australian jurisdiction to reach the 80 per cent mark, falling narrowly behind current laggards Western Australia and Queensland.

In July the Territory Government announced a strict home quarantine compliance system had been activated in Alice Springs to help manage the number of Territorians returning home.

It used Western Australian G2G technology that allowed WA police conduct remote, virtual in-app checks on people in quarantine.

The app used facial verification technology and phone location date to ensure people in quarantine remained at the designated address.

Earlier this month Northern Territory Business Review profiled Darwin business Universal Site Monitoring that has tailored cutting-edge industrial technology to suit home quarantine. Business owner Emil Tastula said the system is adaptable.

“You can log on remotely and check that individual. If there’s anything suspicious or doesn’t look right, then you can make a visit,” he said.

Originally published as Chief Minister Michael Gunner announces conditions for home quarantine pilot