Tennant Creek has a low vaccination rate of below 70 per cent first dose
Lockdown rules say residents must stay home for the lockdown period, only allowed to leave home for the following five reasons:
- Medical treatment, including COVID testing or vaccination
- Essential goods and services, like groceries and medications. Only one household member should visit the store, once per day
- Essential work
- One hour of outdoor exercise per day, within 5 kilometres of home, with one other person or people from your household
- To provide care to a family member or person who cannot support themselves
Face masks must be worn outside of the home.
Lockdown in effect until 5pm on December 20 (at this stage at least).
let me emphasise, the town is remote and very small. The bigger picture concern of course is of such actions are taken elsewhere in Australia. Which seems unlikely as much of the country now has a double vax rate above 90%. Still, something to watch out for as Omicron spreads rapidly.
One new case of COVID-19 has been recorded in the Northern Territory, taking the outbreak to 101 cases.
Health Minister Natasha Fyles says 26 other people are being transferred to quarantine in Darwin after being identified as close contacts of two COVID cases reported in the Central Australian community of Yulara yesterday.
There have been no new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the town of Tennant Creek overnight.
The latest case is a child who is a known close contact from Katherine who tested positive for the virus while at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
Ms Fyles said the new case was not infectious while in the community.
Around 380 tests were collected in the town of Tennant Creek yesterday after the remote region of 3,000 people was plunged into lockdown.
The town, located just under 1,000 kilometres south of the Northern Territory’s capital, Darwin, recorded four cases yesterday after authorities began detecting coronavirus in its wastewater.
“We have got two of those individuals in Alice Springs Hospital,” Ms Fyles said.
“One of them is in intensive care but we wish them well and I understand they are receiving some oxygen.
“The other person is on the ward at Alice Springs hospital and then we have two others being cared for in the Tennant Creek hospital.”