Northern Territory health authorities have lifted the Code Yellow alert for Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals.
The alert, which was issued due overcrowding at Royal Darwin Hospital, was declared on Wednesday by NT Health.
It was the fifth Code Yellow emergency declared in the hospital system in the past 12 months.
A statement from NT Health said the Code Yellow had lifted after COVID hospitalisations at Royal Darwin Hospital had dropped in recent days and "infection prevention and control strategies [had] been reconfigured".
The announcement came after NT Health confirmed a man in his 50s from Katherine had died with COVID-19, marking the 14th coronavirus-related death in the Northern Territory.
NT Health said the man had "underlying health conditions" but did not provide further details.
Territory-wide, there are now 127 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, down from 137 yesterday.
Of those, 18 patients require oxygen, and one person is in intensive care.
In total, 1,027 new cases of COVID-19 have been announced today, 935 of which came from positive rapid antigen tests (RATs).
Of today's new cases, 520 were recorded in the Top End, 198 in Central Australia, 123 in East Arnhem, 34 in the Big Rivers region, 37 in the Barkly and 115 are under investigation.
The number of active cases in the NT is about 6,856.
No change to QR check-in requirements in NT
In NSW, the use of masks and QR codes will soon be scaled back under new COVID-19 rules and, in Victoria, QR check-ins will no longer be required in shops, schools and many workplaces.
However, Northern Territory Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison said there were no current plans to ease check-in requirements in the Territory, despite calls from local hospitality groups to do so.
Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said that — because health workers were no longer tracking and tracing individual COVID-19 cases with the same diligence they had late last year — the use of the app was no longer necessary.
"We're definitely advocating for the scrapping of the check-in app, along with other jurisdictions that have partly cited a drop in people's usage as a reason why it's no longer as an effective health tool," Mr Bruce said.
He said that enforcing compliance also added pressure to businesses, many that were already struggling.
Ms Manison said the Northern Territory government took its advice, "first and foremost", from the Chief Health Officer.
"When we get the advice that we can look to reduce those public health measures then, by all means, we will," she said.
