More than a dozen COVID-19 infections have been detected among residents in a pocket of overcrowded homes in East Katherine, 320km south of Darwin.

December 13, 2021

The Northern Territory has detected 17 new COVID-19 cases as a cluster linked to a pocket of overcrowded homes continues to grow.

More than a dozen infections have been diagnosed among households on four streets in East Katherine, 320km south of Darwin.

“Of these 14 cases, eight are children under 12 … and there is one 70-year-old female,” Acting-Chief Minister Nicole Manison told reporters on Monday.

“It’s a big number but it’s a number we expected.”

The other five cases are adults aged between 20 and 49.

All 14 cases will be moved to The Centre for National Resilience quarantine facility at Howard Springs, south of Darwin.

A teen and a man in his 70s at the facility have also tested positive.

It brings the outbreak to 87 cases with more likely.

It started when an infected woman illegally entered the NT in late October.

The 21-year-old was fined for lying on her border entry form as the virus spread from Darwin to Katherine and three Aboriginal communities.

Police have since launched a fresh investigation into the border breach after an Aboriginal woman died from COVID-19 in early December.

The East Katherine cluster was found after a toddler from a tiny pocket of homes where multiple Aboriginal families live tested positive eight days ago.

Despite Katherine’s vaccination rate surpassing 80 per cent double dosed, some sections of the community of about 6000 had resisted the jab and dodged testing.

Meanwhile, wastewater samples indicate the virus has spread to all corners of the town in recent days.

Anyone who has been to the town or two nearby Aboriginal communities since November 29 has been ordered to get tested within 72 hours.

Ms Manison said it was likely COVID-19 may have also reached communities previously untouched by the virus and health measures such as lockouts would be needed.

“We are expecting more cases and we are expecting them in more places,” she said.

The outbreak may have also spread to Timber Creek, near the WA border.

An infected Binjari man who visited the town about 225km east of Kununurra, has returned a “provisional positive” test result and is now in isolation.

A traveller who arrived on an international flight from Singapore was also diagnosed with the virus.