The Northern Territory has recorded one new case of COVID-19 following an outbreak that started at a central Australian mine six days ago.

July 1, 2021

The Northern Territory has recorded one new case of COVID-19 after an outbreak that started in a central Australian mine six days ago.

Authorities are cautiously optimistic a Top End lockdown that was extended from Darwin to Alice Springs could end on Friday.

The new case is a worker at Newmont’s Granites Mine, in the Tanami Desert, who tested positive for the Delta variant overnight after travelling to Darwin on Friday.

He was a close contact of the first case, who tested positive for the Delta strain of the virus on Saturday after arriving at the mine on June 18.

The new case was in quarantine at Darwin’s Centre for National Resilience at Howard Springs when he was diagnosed.

“More proof swift action has kept this virus trapped,” Chief Minister Michael Gunner told reporters on Thursday.

“There is no reason to believe he was infectious during his very limited time in the community.”

The man entered quarantine on Saturday and initially tested negative for the virus.

“With the Delta strain, we cannot rely on the first test to give us comfort,” Mr Gunner cautioned.

It comes as Alice Springs entered its first full day of lockdown on Thursday after a miner spent most of last Friday at the town’s airport before flying to Adelaide where he tested positive for the virus a day ago.

More than 25,000 people in the outback town were ordered to stay at home for 72 hours from 1pm local time on Wednesday.

Mr Gunner said 69 close contacts of an infected miner had been identified in the NT.

They’ve all been tested for the virus and ordered to isolate.

“We continue to believe that while he is highly infectious, it’s unlikely he was while he was in the airport,” he said.

“It’s good news so far but the next 24 hours is still very important.”

Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie again addressed Indigenous Territorians in one the NT’s many Aboriginal languages.

They’re among the territory’s most vulnerable people, with many living in town camps and outlying communities.

He described COVID as the “cheeky” virus” and encouraged people to get vaccinated.

The crisis started on Saturday when a young Victorian man, who travelled to the mine on June 18 via a Brisbane quarantine hotel, tested positive for the virus.

More than 700 miners were immediately ordered to isolate at the mine as authorities scrambled to track about 800 more who had flown to their homes around Australia after the infected miner arrived.

It’s understood 16 cases are linked to the outbreak.

Two infected workers were diagnosed at the mine and evacuated to the Howard Springs facility.

Another mineworker, who had travelled to NSW, was found to be positive for the virus, as were two co-workers who travelled to Queensland, along with a close contact of one of them.

A Darwin man in his 50s, who left the mine on Friday, also returned a positive test.

He travelled to multiple venues, including Darwin’s Buff Club, for more than four hours before being ordered into quarantine.

A close contact from the Buff Club was on Wednesday moved from Jabiru to Howard Springs after refusing to isolate at her home in Jabiru in Kakadu National Park.

Another mine worker and his wife and daughter also tested positive after the mine worker had travelled to their family home in Palmerston, 20km south of Darwin.

They were quarantined at the Howard Springs facility when diagnosed.

Darwin and surrounding areas have been in lockdown since Sunday, with hopes restrictions will end on Friday after wastewater testing found no evidence of COVID in the community

“It’s my firm hope that tomorrow morning we will be in a position to confirm the lockdown will end on time as planned,” Mr Gunner said.

If the lockdown is lifted some restrictions, such as mask-wearing, are likely to remain in place.