About 140 people entered into quarantine in the Northern Territory yesterday following Greater Metropolitan Sydney, the Local Government Areas of Central Coast Council and City of Blue Mountains, and the Illawarra Region of New South Wales being declared hotspots.

The Northern Territory Government will be covering the cost for the people who were in the air or caught in transit at the time of declaration to either undertake quarantine or return to their originating location today. About half of the people who arrived from hotspot areas yesterday are expected to return to their place of origin.

Anyone else arriving in the Northern Territory from a declared hotspot must undertake 14 days of mandatory, supervised quarantine at the Alice Springs or Howard Springs quarantine facilities at their own cost of $2,500 per person.

Anyone who has arrived in the Northern Territory on, or after 11 December 2020, and has been to a declared hotspot in NSW needs to have a COVID-19 test immediately and self-quarantine while awaiting the test and receiving the results. Please call 1800 008 002 to book an appointment. Everyone in the Territory who has COVID-19 symptoms should also get tested.

The dedicated NT COVID-19 Hotline and the NT Quarantine and Border Restrictions Hotline are currently experiencing a high volume of calls, with about 1200 calls received between 3pm and 9pm yesterday.

We thank you for your patience as we continue to work through phone calls to the Hotline and call back those people who have left a message. We have increased our staffing capacity and are developing an online booking system for the Palmerston GP Super Clinic. This should be available later today and accessed at www.fcdhealth.net. Bookings for the Palmerston GP Super Clinic can also be made by phoning 08 8919 8919.

The NT COVID-19 Hotline operating hours have also been extended today to 8am - 6pm. Staff will continue to work until 9pm to return calls to those people that have left a message.