Three more people in Katherine East have tested positive to COVID-19 after a testing mandate was introduced in the area.
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Health Minister Natasha Fyles told media on Friday that three people had tested positive to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the NT's COVID cluster up to 67.
The cases were; a woman in her 40's, her young daughter and a woman in her 20s.
All the new cases were residents of an area of Katherine East which is now subject to a testing mandate following the consistent detection of COVID-positive wastewater.
Each of the cases live with a total of 15 other people, with Ms Fyles saying a total of 87 people from the area were tested.
Read more:
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- Ms Fyles apologised for the confusion surrounding the testing mandate, which was introduced suddenly on Thursday afternoon.
She said the Chief Health Officer's directions which were put online last night were incorrect.
"There was an incorrect direction published and I apologise to the community," she said.
"[I] just want to completely clarify, once they've been tested, they can move around the community. They don't have to isolate until they've got a negative result. They just need to make sure that they get that test and they'll be permitted to leave that zone."
"I think it was confusing, that's certainly the feedback I've had from residents in that area."
Ms Fyles also apologised for not communicating the direction with Katherine Town Council earlier.
"I did speak to the Mayor of Katherine late yesterday, and we did react very quickly.
"So our police and our frontline authorities got out there putting in place those roadblocks, getting people to have those tests before they left that area.
"I did apologise that the communication was not clear enough. We should have had them being spoken to very early on, but you can see from three results out of eighty-seven why we had to act so quickly."
A number of new casual exposure sites have also been added for Katherine. Anyone who has been to the below places at the below times must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
- BWS, December 4, 3pm - 4pm
- Katherine Hotel, December 8, 4.20pm - 4.35pm
- Woolworths, December 8, 5.05pm - 5.15pm
Meanwhile, a household contact of two positive cases who arrived in Darwin from London - a man in his 60's - has tested positive in quarantine.
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