More than 100,000 or 40 per cent of Northern Territorians have rolled up their sleeves for a COVID-19 vaccination dose.

July 5, 2021

More than 40 per cent of Northern Territorians have rolled up their sleeves for a COVID-19 jab.

That’s about 100,000 people out of the Territory’s 246,561 residents and a major milestone, Health Minister Natasha Fyles says.

About 16 per cent or 30,000 Territorians have also received their second dose and are fully vaccinated.

“We’re also seeing our remote program rolling out strongly,” Ms Fyles told reporters on Monday.

Hundreds of people in Maningrida, an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land about 500km east of Darwin, queued up to get the jab in recent days, she said.

It comes as NT Health prepares to open a new vaccination centre in the Darwin suburb of Marrara on Wednesday as the Royal Darwin Hospital vaccination clinic closes.

Meanwhile, a mine worker, who tested positive for COVID-19 and allegedly lied to health workers about his movements in the Darwin community while he was supposed to be isolating, has been fined $5056.

The 56-year-old flew from Newmont’s Granites Mine, about 540km northwest of Alice Springs, to Darwin on June 25, a day before a COVID-19 outbreak started at the site.

There are 17 cases linked to the outbreak.

He visited multiple venues, including a popular Darwin bar and restaurant for more than four hours, before NT Health tracked him down and ordered him to isolate while he waited to be moved to the National Centre for Resilience quarantine facility.

But the man breached the health direction and visited a Darwin supermarket for cigarettes after he was told to stay at home, NT Police say.

“Any person directed into quarantine must abide by this direction immediately and without delay or they will be issued with an infringement notice,” Superintendent Shaun Gill said.

“Stopping at the shops like this person did, visiting friends or going for a walk isn’t an option when you have been directed into quarantine.”

NT Police have also fined a 38-year-old miner at the Newmont site $5056 for breaching a health direction and leaving his room.

The man was found wandering about the mine site while not wearing a mask, Superintendent Gill said.

“He has been flown to Darwin to complete the remainder of his quarantine period under supervision and at his own cost at Howard Springs,” he said.

More than 700 workers at the Granites Mine were locked down for 14 days on June 26 after a Victorian man was diagnosed with the Delta variant of the virus at the site.

Some miners have complained about the conditions, saying food was in short supply and they were not allowed out of their rooms to exercise.

Newmont Australia senior vice president Alex Bates has previously publically apologised to the miners saying it was an “extreme scenario” and the company was being tested.

“The pressure on our systems has been enormous,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.

Mr Bates said the kitchen had to be fully sterilised after the outbreak, causing meal preparation delays.

“I offer my wholehearted apologies. I understand their frustrations,” he said.

The number of people who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is 100,535 or 40.78 per cent of the population.