Northern Territory revokes hotspot declaration for Brisbane area

The Northern Territory Government has backflipped on its decision to force travelers from the City of Brisbane area to quarantine only a few days after the Supercars Championship announced it would delay this weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown round due to the restrictions.

Supercars faced major delays during the week getting team transporters and personell into the NT as some had come from the Brisbane region in Queensland, a declared hotspot, which forced the late postponement of this weekend’s round by a week and raising question marks on when the second leg of the double-header weekend will occur.

Until Wednesday it was unclear whether the Supercars fraternity would even be allowed to cross in to the state as the category engaged in talks with the territory government about exemptions, hoping it would allow this weekend’s round to go ahead as scheduled.

A statement on the NT Government’s website from Chief Health Officer Doctor Hugh Heggie said that the revoking of the hotspot declaration for Queensland cities means anyone under mandatory quarantine will be released effective immediately.

“Using a Public Health risk approach to inform our decisions to revoke declared COVID-19 hotspots is a considered method,” said Doctor Heggie.

“In consultation with the Department of Health Public Health Executive Team, I closely monitor the daily data, review jurisdictional and modelling reports and the current epidemiology of COVID-19 in these Geographical Areas of Risks.

“Anyone currently in mandatory quarantine from these revoked hotspots have commenced the process of exiting.”

It is not yet known whether the second scheduled race weekend at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway will take place the weekend after the next round or a fortnight onwards.