The Australian Defence Force has rejected "wild" social media claims that it's forcibly vaccinating Indigenous Northern Territorians against COVID-19.
The territory detected one new case overnight, bringing the outbreak to 52 cases after a teenager from Binjari Aboriginal community tested positive.
"This shows us the hard lockdown is working and caring for close contacts in quarantine is working," Chief Minister Michael Gunner said on Thursday.
It comes as the ADF launches a public relations blitz following colourful and false Facebook posts by various groups and individuals about the military's involvement in Top End's pandemic response.
Some of the posts allege infected Aboriginal people are being forcibly transferred to quarantine facilities while likening them to the stolen generation.
One group of traditional owners also accused ADF personnel of holding down people in some Indigenous communities and injecting them with the vaccine.
The misinformation has been shared and reposted to multiple platforms and there are fears it could threaten efforts to contain an outbreak.
The ADF has rejected the accusations, saying they are lies.
"Defence is aware of social media posts claiming the Australian Defence Force is forcibly vaccinating or detaining members of the Australian community," a spokesman said in a statement.
"These claims are emphatically false."
Colonel Tim Rutherford, the ADF's NT COVID-19 response commander, said the posts were made by "issue-motivated" groups using Defence's involvement as a "prop".
"The claims are wild and various," he told the ABC on Thursday morning.
"They're thoroughly untrue."
Col Rutherford said there had been no complaints from people in the locked-down Aboriginal communities of Binjari and Rockhole, 330km south of Darwin.
"On the ground the people in the communities have been great and understand we're there to support them, to keep them safe, protect country, families and communities," he said.
"They've been great ... but it's creating a stir elsewhere and that's attracting the attention of some of our coordinating staff who are now having to respond to this misinformation."
He urged members of the public to be aware of the facts before sharing social media posts.
About 85 ADF personnel are assisting police and health workers in and around the Katherine area, 320km south of Darwin, with food deliveries to vulnerable communities and close contact transport to testing facilities.
They're also helping police at vehicle checkpoints.
Traditional owners in Binjari and Rockhole say the battle against the virus is the "biggest fight of their lives" and the social media posts aren't helping.
"We have been treated with a lot of respect and appreciate all the support being given by these support personnel," the Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service said.
"We don't need people out there creating another flood for us. We don't appreciate outside people making comments that are untrue.
"People on social media saying that our people are being mistreated need to realise their comments are hurting the very people they claim to care about."
