Housing fix urged to stop COVID-19 spread

Six new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the territory on Wednesday, all of them being Indigenous and one is a three-week-old baby.

It takes the total number of cases in Katherine and the remote community of Robinson River to 17.

Jab rates for Indigenous people continue to lag across every state and territory. Just under 58 per cent of Australia's over-16 Indigenous population is double-dosed.

Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy's family members are at the centre of the Northern Territory outbreak.

"This is our worst fears realised," Senator McCarthy told ABC TV on Wednesday.

"We've got to arrest this in terms of the COVID outbreak before we can actually really seriously consider when it is safe to open up.

"Our deepest fear here is that has spread across the territory."

Her sister carried the virus into Robinson River and nine of the politician's family members tested positive on Tuesday.

She called for immediate support to fix overcrowding in remote community houses.

"Overcrowding is a massive issue across Australia for First Nations people," Senator McCarthy said.

"How can people isolate when they're 15 to 20 people to a house for starters?"

People are being stopped from entering or leaving Robinson River or surrounding homelands under federal biosecurity rules.

Masks are mandatory across the territory and a lockdown of Katherine will run until at least Monday.

Double-dose vaccination rates among Indigenous Australians are as low as 34 per cent. The ACT has the highest Indigenous full vaccination rate of 84 per cent.

Australia's overall double-dose rate has surpassed 83 per cent for people aged 16 and older.

Meanwhile, there were 231 new cases and zero deaths reported in NSW, while Victoria registered an uptick in infections, reporting nine deaths and 996 cases.

No new local cases were reported in Queensland while there were six in the ACT.

Australian Associated Press