The Northern Territory has removed Greater Brisbane and the Gold Coast from the Top End’s “areas of elevated COVID-19” list.

September 3, 2020

The Northern Territory has cancelled its COVID-19 alert for southeast Queensland after an Indigenous community raised concerns about the warning.

Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie on Thursday removed Greater Brisbane and the Gold Coast from the Top End’s “areas of elevated COVID-19” hotspot list.

“People arriving to the NT from those locations are simply reminded to practice physical distancing and increased personal hygiene as per standard COVID-19 principles,” Mr Heggie said in a statement.

It comes a day after residents of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park demanded flights carrying tourists from Brisbane be paused until Queensland’s virus clusters were controlled.

Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation also raised concerns about NT Health’s “areas of elevated COVID-19” classification.

The new alert was issued on Friday with a warning there were disease clusters in southeast Queensland.

It said the area could be declared a hotspot, but NT Health did not require travellers from Brisbane and the Gold Coast to undergo 14 days of mandatory supervised quarantine.

Instead, they were asked to refrain from visiting high-risk settings, including remote communities and residential aged care facilities.

MCAC general manager Glenn Irvine said the warning had confused the Mutitjulu community, which was vulnerable being both remote and populated by many elderly residents.

He called on Mr Heggie to declare the areas as bona fide hotspots or wait until they were COVID free before letting more tourists visit the national park.

Visitors to the NT from declared hotspots, such as Victoria, must undergo 14 days of mandatory supervised quarantine.