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SA man fined for NT holiday COVID breach

The man had a travel exemption for work but went on a holiday near Uluru.

The man had a travel exemption for work but went on a holiday near Uluru. Photo: AAP

A South Australian man has been fined for going on holidays near Uluru, after visiting an interstate COVID-19 hotspot.

Northern Territory Police said the 69-year old man had a travel exemption issued by SA health authorities, that allowed him to travel from Victoria for work.

But he then flew to the town of Yulara in the NT for a holiday, believing authorities in the Territory had accepted his paperwork.

He’s been fined $5024 for failing to comply with a direction of the NT Chief Health Officer.

The man was intercepted at Yulara airport and taken to quarantine in Alice Springs.

“There are no exemptions to come to the Territory for a holiday if you have been in a declared hotspot in the previous 14 days,” incident controller Sachin Sharma said in a statement released Saturday.

He said exemptions issued interstate do not apply in the Territory, where exemption paperwork must be approved by a delegate of the NT Chief Health Officer.

The man is returning to South Australia on Saturday.

On Friday, the NT recorded one new COVID case, a two year old boy who arrived on a repatriation flight from London last Sunday.

The boy is asymptomatic and is being cared for by NT Health at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.

As of Friday morning, more than 13,000 international arrivals have quarantined at Howard Springs, while 138 COVID cases have recorded from repatriation flights to the NT since they began on October 23.

There are currently two active cases in quarantine.

Restrictions in Greater Darwin and Katherine were eased on Thursday as planned, following a lockdown imposed after an infected US defence contractor travelled to Darwin on August 13.

Gyms and markets are have reopened and face masks will no longer be required.

Patrons can stand at the bar in pubs and drink, and people can have more than 10 visitors to their homes.

More than 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the NT.

-AAP

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