The Northern Territory recorded eight new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with five infections diagnosed in a remote Indigenous community.

November 18, 2021

A newborn baby is among eight new COVID-19 cases detected in the Northern Territory, with five infections diagnosed in a remote Indigenous community.

The other three cases are from the town of Katherine, 320km south of Darwin, bringing the territory’s latest outbreak to 19 cases.

“They are all Aboriginal Territorians,” Chief Minister Michael Gunner told reporters.

The five new infections at the remote community of Robinson River, 1000km southeast of Darwin, are all household contacts.

They include a three-week-old girl, a 13-year-old girl and a 21-year-old woman. Two men aged 23 and 29 are also infected.

It brings the total number of cases in the community of about 350 to six.

“The situation in Robinson River and Katherine is serious,” Mr Gunner said.

“I fear (the virus) will take lives in the territory before the year is out.”

The new Katherine cases are two women, aged 21 and 38, and a 36-year-old man, who are close contacts of the other 10 cases diagnosed in the town.

All the cases are either at or being moved to the Centre for National Resilience to quarantine, with 234 close contacts identified.

Mr Gunner said it was likely the Delta variant of the virus had seeded in the NT. Unvaccinated people were urged to get the jab.

Anybody who visited or left Katherine since November 7 and Robinson River since November 11 has been told to get tested as health authorities try to get on top of the outbreak.

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

It was triggered several weeks ago by a woman who unlawfully travelled to the NT from Cairns after visiting Victoria.

The latest outbreak in the Top End started on Monday when a 30-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man from Katherine were reported as infected.

The woman is the sister of federal Senator Malarndirri McCarthy.

She is 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.

All were household contacts and Indigenous Territorians.

Greater Katherine and Robinson River were plunged into a three-day lockdown on Monday evening.

That has since been extended in Katherine until Monday, with a territory-wide order to wear face masks in most public areas.