Genomic tests results are expected to reveal if a COVID-19 outbreak in a remote Northern Territory Aboriginal community is linked to an infected Cairns woman.

November 18, 2021

A lockdown in a remote Northern Territory Aboriginal community has been extended as authorities wait for COVID-19 test results that are likely to reveal the source of the latest outbreak.

The cluster in Robinson River, 1000 kilometres southeast of Darwin, and the town of Katherine, currently number 19 cases with many more expected.

“I fear (the virus) will take lives in the territory before the year is out,” Chief Minister Michael Gunner told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

All those infected are Indigenous Territorians and all are household contacts living in communities where overcrowding in homes is rife.

Genomic test results due on Thursday are expected to confirm if the current cluster is linked to the NT’s first community transmission earlier in the month.

That was triggered by a woman who unlawfully travelled to the NT from Cairns after visiting Victoria, where she became infected.

Wastewater testing from across the NT is also due, with expectations it will indicate whether the virus has spread beyond Katherine and Robinson River.

The latest outbreak in the Top End started on Monday when a 30-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man from Katherine, 320km south of Darwin, were reported nfected.

The woman is the sister of federal Senator Malarndirri McCarthy.

She was also unvaccinated and had travelled from Katherine to Robinson River where she was diagnosed with the virus, the first case reported in a remote NT Aboriginal community.

Nine new cases were detected in Katherine on Tuesday, including a 71-year-old man and and a 65-year-old woman who has been admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital.

Eight new cases were reported on Wednesday, with five infections diagnosed in Robinson River, including a three-week-old girl.

Greater Katherine and Robinson River were plunged into a three-day lockdown when the first cases were announced on Monday.

That was extended to seven days in Katherine on Tuesday, with territory-wide order to wear face masks in most public areas.

NT Health also extended it to next Monday in Robinson River after the new cases were announced on Wednesday.

Health Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday declared Robinson River and surrounding homelands a biosecurity zone under federal law.

This makes it illegal for people to enter or leave the area.

From Friday, anyone entering Indigenous communities across the NT from Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine, or outside the territory, will need to return a negative test 72 hours before doing so.

It comes amid growing concern over the NT’s ability to cope with a large-scale outbreak.

A lack of intensive care beds has been flagged by some as a potential problem as case numbers rise.

Others, including the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT chef executive John Paterson, are asking why more at-risk Indigenous communities aren’t locked down.

The stress has already started to show in the top levels of government with repeated mishandling of information released into the public domain.