CANBERRA, Sept 29 (NNN-XINHUA) – The Chief Minister of Australia’s Northern Territory (NT), revealed plans to fly international students and seasonal workers into the region.
Michael Gunner confirmed that he was working to expand the NT’s hotspot policy, under which only travellers from areas with no community transmission of COVID-19 can enter the territory.
If successful, the expanded scheme would pave the way for international students and seasonal workers to return to the NT and provide a major boost for its economy.
However, even if the hotspot scheme is expanded, all international arrivals must still serve a mandatory 14-day quarantine period, raising questions about the cost.
Earlier in Sept, about 160 seasonal workers from Vanuatu – which has no confirmed COVID-19 cases – arrived in the NT to fill a labour shortage for mango harvest and went into quarantine – costing the mango industry 400,000 AUD (283,251 U.S. dollars).
Gunner said that the government wanted to trial quarantining international students studying in the NT.
“We have a lot of international students here. Over the last four years we grew international student numbers from just over 1,000 to 2,500. I don’t think we could get 2,500 in,” he said.
As of yesterday afternoon, there were 27,044 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of new cases in the last 24 hours is five, according to latest figures from the Dept of Health.
All five new cases were reported in Victoria, the hardest-hit state by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, where another three deaths were also reported, taking the national death toll to 875.– NNN-XINHUA
