The Northern Territory is once again declared clinically COVID-free as the Health Minister ponders whether the Howard Springs quarantine facility could be used to repatriate Australians stranded overseas due to coronavirus.
The Northern Territory has clinically eradicated coronavirus for the second time, but the NT Health Minister has reiterated her prediction that the jurisdiction will record more cases of the virus.The Health Minister says the NT is "prepared" for more COVID-19 casesThe NT was the first Australian jurisdiction to clinically eradicate coronavirus,To meet the definition for clinical eradication there need to be no new recorded cases for 28 days since the last recovered case of the virus.
"In terms of the eradication, we may see cases again in the NT but we have the resources in place, the testing, the contact tracing, to keep Territorians safe, to contain and supress that outbreak." "[It] would allow Territorians to visit family and friends that they may have been cut off from, and also the potential of millions more visitors coming into the Territory," she said.Ms Fyles said 70,000 people had entered the Northern Territory since the jurisdiction reopened its borders on July 17, when the Government introduced rules barring open entry to arrivals from designated hotspot zones.
"We need to remember that [the quarantine program] is in place to keep the Territory safe from coronavirus," she said. Last week the Chief Minister also said the Government could look at discounting the cost of mandatory quarantine for NT residents returning home.Asked if Darwin's Howard Springs quarantine facility could be used to repatriate Australians stranded overseas due to coronavirus, Ms Fyles said the Government was "certainly open" to the idea.
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