CANBERRA, Jun 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The lockdown in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) has been extended, amid fears of community transmission of COVID-19.
Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, announced today that, stay-at-home orders for the greater Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield regions, would be extended until at least Friday, after one new case of COVID-19 was detected in the area.
“I am really sorry about this,” Gunner said. “The reality is, we are not out of the woods yet. Not by a long way. The risk to the community has grown in the past 24 hours. We are now in an extremely critical period.”
The new case, a Darwin man in his 50s, is an employee at an outback gold mine, where a worker tested positive for COVID-19, on Saturday.
The new case flew from the mine, in the Tanami Desert to Darwin on Friday, and spent time in the community, including with seven friends, who have been classified as high-risk and moved into isolation.
More than 1,600 workers from the mine have also been told to isolate and get tested for COVID-19, after authorities warned that the original case could have been infectious with the Delta variant.
Earlier today, South Australia introduced restrictions as a pre-emptive strategy, to prevent the potential spread of the Delta variant.
From midnight, masks will be made mandatory in high-risk settings across South Australia, and highly recommended on public transport, and private gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 150 people.
“The Delta variant is highly transmissible,” Premier Steven Marshall said. “We have to be very vigilant at the moment.”
“We are pleading with the people of South Australia to immediately go and get themselves tested, even if they have the most minor of symptoms.”– NNN-AGENCIES
