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Health
Steve Vivian and Alicia Perera

NT hospital admissions for COVID-19 rise to 78, as the Territory records 286 new cases

Health Minister Natasha Fyles and Acting Deputy Chief Health Officer Marco Briceno. (ABC News: Che Chorley)

There are now 78 people with COVID-19 in hospital in the Northern Territory, up from 61 on Sunday, with four people in intensive care.

Eight patients are requiring oxygen.

There were 286 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the Northern Territory in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said.

Of those cases, 238 were detected from rapid antigen tests and 48 from PCR tests. 

There are now about 3,900 active COVID-19 cases in the NT.

Ms Fyles said she believed the NT had "flattened the curve" of rising case numbers after several consecutive daily totals below 300.

"We have now had a couple of days of lower numbers in the Northern Territory and that's seen our rolling seven-day average come down under 400," Ms Fyles said.

"We do acknowledge that usually earlier in the week we do see a bit of a lag in testing because of the weekend.

"We also are seeing bumpy results in our testing because of the isolated conditions we see in the Northern Territory — the remoteness."

In Central Australia, there were two new cases recorded in town camps around Alice Springs.

Seven more cases were recorded at the Alice Springs prison, bringing total case numbers there to 89.

Almost 90 cases have been detected at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. (CASA)

Ms Fyles said the Traeger Park drive-through clinic in Alice Springs had been stood down, with all testing in the town now provided out of the Pandemic Coordination Centre on Bath St.

There were 10 new cases recorded in Yuendumu, but Ms Fyles said low testing levels there were hampering the efforts of health authorities to fully understand the community's ongoing outbreak.

"We really need people to come forward in Yuendumu and be tested. Please don't be scared; our teams will look after you if you test positive," she said.

She also said there were two cases recorded in the nearby community of Yuelamu.

Lockouts in both Yuendumu and Yuelamu were extended by seven days to Sunday as authorities continue to try and contain "concerning" case numbers in the communities.

Milikapiti, on the Tiwi Islands, entered a lockdown at 3pm on Monday for at least 72 hours.

In total, 18 cases of COVID-19 have now been recorded in the Melville Island community.

There were two new cases recorded in Amoonguna, one in Hermannsburg and one in Utopia.

Ms Fyles said authorities were concerned about case numbers at the Barkly Work Camp, where another 12 infections were recorded, bringing the total to 66.

Further north, there were two new cases recorded in Pine Creek and five in nearby Kybrook, taking total case numbers in that area to 11, in what Ms Fyles called a "new cluster".

In East Arnhem, there was one new case recorded on Groote Eylandt in the community of Alyangula.

Three new cases were detected across Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy.

Ms Fyles said 19 cases had been recorded in Ski Beach overnight, bringing that community's total case numbers to 24.

AUSMAT personnel have been sent to Galiwin'ku to provide assistance. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)

Galiwin'ku, which has been in lockdown since last Monday, registered two new cases, meaning 87 cases have now been recorded there.

Ms Fyles said for the first time a team from the NT-based National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre would be brought into the community to assist with the response.

"This is really important – it provides additional resources… but it also allows us to test these plans," she said.

"AUSMAT [the Australian Medical Assistance Team] did work early in the pandemic travelling to remote communities, looking at what they would do if we did need to operationalise them.

"So we have enacted that, and we'll work with NT Health, Miwatj and AUSMAT, out at Galiwin'ku."

On the Tiwi Islands, one more case was recorded in the locked-down community of Wurrumiyanga while another three were detected in Milikapiti.

Ms Fyles said she expected at least a dozen more cases to be recorded in Milikapiti in the next reporting period.

Maningrida recorded one new case, in a person who had recently returned from Darwin and gone into isolation soon after.

Ms Fyles said three new cases had been recorded at Darwin prison.

She also said there were now 35 confirmed cases from the Batten Road accommodation centre in Marrara, after every resident had been PCR tested.

About 115 close contacts from the centre have now been transported to Howard Springs quarantine facility.

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