Gold miner in the Northern Territory tests positive to coronavirus – sparking contact tracing nightmare with 900 FIFO workers who flew across the country sent into isolation
A miner working in remote Central Australia has tested positive to coronavirus.
The Northern Territory government confirmed the worker at the Granites Gold Mine, in the Tanami Desert roughly 550 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs, tested positive to the virus on Saturday.
It’s believed the FIFO worker contracted the highly-contagious Indian Delta variant of the virus in Brisbane and may have been infectious from June 18 to June 24.
About 900 FIFO workers who were at the site across those days have since left and travelled to a number of airports including Brisbane, Perth, Alice Springs and Darwin.
There are 754 people in isolation on the mine site, and 70 people considered close contacts are in isolation at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
“The difficulty here, although we know the details of the persons who are at the mine site and those who have left and will be in touch with them, you might appreciate that contact tracing isn’t just a text message,’ Chief Health Officers Hugh Heggie said.
‘It’s actually a conversation about where you are, where you went, and these include people who live here, and particularly Darwin and Alice Springs but also may have been transiting through here.
‘They may have been to the market or other places while they were here and other people may have transferred on the charter flight and they may have travelled on somewhere else.
‘The information that we will get over the coming hours and days we will share with you.’
More to come.