Greater Darwin and Katherine are expected to find out if a COVID-19 lockdown triggered by an infected US defence contractor will end at midday on Thursday.

August 19, 2021

The Northern Territory is expected to find out if a COVID-19 lockdown triggered by an infected US defence contractor will end as planned.

Greater Darwin and Katherine were locked down for three days on Monday after the man travelled from Sydney via Canberra to Darwin.

It’s set to end at midday on Thursday, with the Territory recording no virus cases linked to man.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he was “fairly confident but not completely certain” the lockdown would end as planned.

“We are feeling good. It’s looking pretty sweet,” he said on Wednesday.

Restrictions, such as wearing face masks in public, are likely to apply for one week.

The infected man in his 30s arrived at Darwin Airport on a Qantas flight just before midnight on Thursday and travelled to the Hilton Hotel by taxi.

He returned a positive result on Sunday after mandatory testing at Royal Darwin Hospital.

The man then drove 300 kilometres south to Katherine on Sunday for work before a test revealed he was infected.

He previously returned a negative COVID-19 test on August 10 during his 14-day stay in a Sydney quarantine hotel.

Authorities don’t know how or where the man caught COVID-19.

NT Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie says test results show he hadn’t been infected long, and it was “less likely” he caught the virus in NSW.

Meanwhile, Mr Gunner has called for a better national plan to protect children not currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.

“We must make sure that as a nation we have a plan for our kids when we hit 70 and 80 per cent,” he said.

“These are people that can’t be vaccinated.”

Mr Gunner said parents need to know how places where their children gather, such as childcare, preschool and primary schools, will be managed to protect children from the virus.

“You can’t have a plan for step B and step C of the national plan without also having a plan for our kids,” the father of one said.

“I’ll be a voice for kids at National Cabinet. I’ll be a voice for kids in our national plan. We have to get that right.”