The Northern Territory Chief Minister has hit back at growing criticism of his government's COVID-19 health response as remote communities scrambled to quash outbreaks of the virus.
It comes after the NT recorded its fourth COVID death on Thursday, along with record numbers of coronavirus cases in all corners of the Territory.
There are now more than 7,000 active COVID cases in the NT.
The NT government is expecting many more to come, pausing elective surgeries on Friday in anticipation of extra demand for ICU beds as cases near a peak.
In some remote communities, where coronavirus has rapidly spread since borders reopened six weeks ago, more than half the population is infected.
Overcrowded living conditions and under-resourced health facilities recently left some remote COVID patients with no option but to isolate together in an outback office.
Speaking at Friday's COVID press conference, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner defended the government's handling of the Territory's escalating COVID cases.
"We did everything we could to keep COVID out while Territorians got vaccinated so our systems could manage it," he said.
"We never tried to deny it — we just tried to delay it. We now have widespread transmission of Omicron through the Territory, just as we expected."
He also said it was unreasonable to expect the government to treat every positive COVID case as acute.
"Then the people who actually are seriously ill, either from COVID or from other causes, would not get the care that they need," he said.
"And our health staff who are under strain would be flattened."
Mr Gunner emphasised that the overwhelming majority of vaccinated people who contracted the coronavirus "won't need acute care".
The NT government is due to make a decision around whether to extend its outdoor mask mandate today.
Calls for more COVID tests downplayed
Among the criticisms from land councils and Aboriginal health groups is the lack of coronavirus tests available in remote communities, leaving people in the dark about whether they had COVID and needed to isolate.
However, Mr Gunner said there were enough tests available for the people who needed them.
"Testing every single person in a community — no matter if they're sick or not — takes up tests that we can't use on symptomatic people later, the people who really need them," he said.
He also said the government had deliberately covered the cost of rapid antigen tests so they would be accessible to everyone.
"We are making rapid tests available for free to Territorians. We need to be tested," he said.
School closures a possibility
One week into the return of school, more than 100 teachers across Northern Territory schools have gone into isolation after contracting COVID-19.
NT education union branch secretary Adam Lampe said about 3.5 per cent of the teacher workforce had now tested positive, and it was possible some schools would need to close in the weeks ahead.
"If it gets any worse, which it will, we're expecting it to get worse, it will affect teacher workload," Mr Lampe said.
"I think it's going to be rough, the next few weeks, but hopefully cases will peak [soon] and then decline. That's what we've been seeing in other jurisdictions."
Biosecurity zones a 'disgrace', says Indigenous leader
With the support of Aboriginal health organisations and several land councils, the Commonwealth this week reintroduced biosecurity zones preventing travel in and out of dozens of remote communities battling COVID outbreaks.
The measure is due to be lifted on February 17.
However, while some Indigenous leaders have strongly advocated for biosecurity zones, not everyone is happy about it.
Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, a senior community leader in Yuendumu in Central Australia, said the measure was a "disgrace".
"We're talking about the whole community being locked up, the people being shut in their houses and not talking to anybody," he said.
"Biosecurity is not good, because it's not allowing us to do what we want."
Instead of effectively locking down remote communities, Mr Hargraves said it would be better if the government provided more support to help locals manage COVID patients on-Country.
"You don't have to fly them out," he said.
"Put them in a demountable so that they're in the community, secure and looked after. That's what we want."
