Parts of the Northern Territory have entered a snap 72-hour lockdown after a US traveller infected with COVID-19 spent four days in the community.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner says the man in his 30s travelled to Darwin via Canberra on Thursday after quarantining in a Sydney hotel.
“As a recent international arrival he had been in 14-day quarantine in Sydney,” he told reporters on Monday.
“He landed in Darwin very late Thursday night, just before midnight and travelled by taxi to the Hilton Hotel on Mitchell Street.
“Later on Friday morning, he travelled back to the airport in an Uber car, to collect a hire care.”
The man then spent three days in Darwin before travelling to Katherine on Sunday for work.
Mr Gunner said he was cooperating with authorities but has refused to say if he is vaccinated.
The three-day lockdown of Greater Darwin and Katherine started at noon on Monday and is expected to end Thursday, with face masks mandatory outside homes.
Numerous exposure sites have been listed, including Outback Steaks and Curry in Darwin and Knotts Crossing Resort in Katherine.
People are only be permitted to leave their homes for five reasons: to buy essential goods and services, for medical treatment, one hour of exercise within five kilometres, essential work and to provide care to people unable to support themselves.
All purchases that are not food or medicine must be made using click and collect, where possible.
Schools and education facilities have been closed to all students, except the children of essential workers.
The infected man returned a positive COVID-19 result on Sunday after mandatory testing three days after arriving in the NT.
He earlier returned a negative test on day 12 of his stay in Sydney before flying to the NT via Canberra, while it was a hotspot.
NT Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie said the man was presumed to be infected with the Delta variant.
It is not known if the man, who is asymptomatic, was wearing a mask when he moved about the community.
Dr Heggie declined to say what the man’s occupation was.
He is currently in isolation in Katherine and will be moved to the National Centre for Resilience in Howard Springs later on Monday.
Thousands of interstate visitors are currently in the Top End for the Darwin Festival.
A public celebration in Darwin on Tuesday for returning Tokyo Olympians has been cancelled.
AAP
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