Hundreds of close and casual contacts have been identified in the Northern Territory after a COVID-19 infected US man travelled from Sydney to the Top End.
Contact tracers have identified 63 close and 237 casual contacts after the man in his 30s flew via Canberra to Darwin on Thursday for work.
No new cases were diagnosed overnight and more virus testing facilities are set to be opened in Katherine, where the man drove on Sunday.
“We’re treating this as if it’s the highly contagious Delta strain,” NT Minister Natasha Fyles told reporters on Tuesday.
“The virus is a threat and it’s in our community.”
Ms Fyles said health authorities had contacted most of the close contacts and those people were now isolating.
The man’s test results were sent interstate for genomic testing, with the results expected back later on Tuesday or on Wednesday.
About 150,000 people in Greater Darwin and Katherine were plunged into a 72-hour lockdown at midday on Monday amid fears of an outbreak after the infected man spent four days in the community.
He arrived at Darwin Airport on a Qantas flight via Canberra just before midnight on Thursday and travelled to the Hilton Hotel by taxi.
The man then spent three days in the city before travelling on Sunday to Katherine, where he met a friend and visited Woolworths.
He returned a positive COVID-19 result on Sunday after mandatory testing at Royal Darwin Hospital three days after arriving in the NT.
The man has been cooperating with authorities but has refused to say if he was vaccinated.
He earlier returned a negative test on day 12 of his stay in the Sydney quarantine hotel.
The man was moved to the National Centre for Resilience in Howard Springs on Monday after being placed in isolation in Katherine.
Residents were given 90 minutes’ notice of the three-day lockdown, which is scheduled to end Thursday.
Numerous exposure sites have been listed, including Outback Steaks and Curry in Darwin and Knotts Crossing Resort in Katherine.
Thousands of interstate visitors are currently in the Top End for the Darwin Festival, which has been suspended.
A public celebration in Darwin on Tuesday for returning Tokyo Olympians has been cancelled.
About 36 per cent of the NT’s 246,500-strong population are fully vaccinated and over 55 per cent have had one dose.
Vaccination rates are lower in remote areas, where 28 per cent are fully vaccinated and 44 per cent of residents have had one dose.
Aboriginal health groups are worried about the potential spread of the virus, given the high rates of chronic illness and overcrowding in some communities.
“We’ve stopped any travel from Katherine or Darwin to the remote communities to make sure that there is no one who has been potentially exposed creating any risk in a remote setting,” Katherine West Health Board chief executive Sinon Cooney told ABC.
Ms Fyles said 8500 extra vaccines were being sent to NT and a drive-through testing facility has been reopened in Darwin.
AAP
