A fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is now available to eligible Territorians, Northern Territory Health Minister Natasha Fyles has announced.
The dose is recommended as an extra booster shot for vulnerable people who are at greatest risk of severe illness from the coronavirus.
That cohort includes:
- Adults aged 65 years and older
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years and older
- Residents of aged care or disability care facilities
- People aged 16 years and older who are severely immunocompromised.
Eligible Territorians can only get their fourth dose four months after their most recent vaccination.
Of those, people who have had COVID-19 after their third dose will need to wait four months after they have recovered from their infection.
People who believe they are immunocompromised and may require a fourth dose should speak with their GP about eligibility.
Ms Fyles said the Palmerston COVID-19 vaccination clinic would close on April 30 due to high vaccination rates across Greater Darwin.
Anyone who has booked a dose at the Palmerston clinic after April will have their booking transferred to the Darwin vaccination centre at Marrara, she said.
Changes to testing requirements
Under new rules, people in the NT who have been infected with COVID-19 will not be considered a close contact — or be required to undertake testing — for 12 weeks after they exit isolation.
Previously, this period was eight weeks.
After 12 weeks, people are required to comply with all COVID-19 testing and isolation requirements.
Face masks must continue to be worn in high-risk settings, such as hospitals, aged care homes, family violence shelters and disability care facilities.
Masks must also be worn in airports and on flights.
There were 513 new COVID cases recorded in the NT in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, NT Health said in a statement.
Of those, 429 were detected using a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).
There were 364 cases recorded in the Top End region, 58 in Central Australia, 14 in East Arnhem, eight in the Big Rivers region, 10 in the Barkly region and 59 are under investigation.
There are currently 32 patients in hospital, of which 10 are requiring oxygen, and two patients are in the intensive care unit.
The number of active cases in the NT is 3,146, according to NT government figures.
