Northern Territory declares ALL of Victoria a coronavirus hotspot and shuts borders to the state until further notice
The Northern Territory has declared Victoria a COVID-19 hotspot and has shut its borders to the southern state.
The NT's Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced the measure on Wednesday morning saying it would last indefinitely.
Victorians who try to cross the border into the NT will be thrown into mandatory quarantine at their own expense for 14 days.
NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the measures could be in place for a year.
The Northern Territory (pictured is Kakadu National Park) has declared its borders will be shut to Victorians until further notice
The NT's Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced the measure on Wednesday saying borders would remain closed to Victorians
'We hoped the numbers in Victoria would go down but they have gone up,' Mr Gunner said on Wednesday.
'From July 17 our Hard Borders for Hotspots policy kicks in and from that day people can come to the territory as long as they have not been in a hotspot.'
'I am declaring all of Victoria a hotspot for the purposes of travel. The territory's borders will stay closed to all of Victoria until further notice, they are shut indefinitely.'
The Territory government responded to the spike in Victoria by announcing on Sunday that arrivals from designated COVID-19 hot spots in the state would require forced quarantine.
That was expanded on Monday to all of Melbourne and then Wednesday to the entire state of Victoria.
Melbourne has been ordered back into lockdown for six weeks after Victoria was hit with a record 191 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, following an increase of 127 cases on Monday, which was also a record.
Visitors to the NT from interstate currently must go into unsupervised self-quarantine.
The NT borders were due to reopen on July 17 but Victorian will be required to go into supervised quarantine for 14 days at their own cost and be tested for COVID-19.
NT Police have been increasingly issuing fines to people for breaching quarantine, with 121 penalties so far.
Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT chief executive John Paterson had previously called for the borders to be shut to all of Victoria immediately, rather than Melbourne from July 17, citing concerns over indigenous communities.
The NSW border will be closed to Victoria from Wednesday.
Firefighters dressed in personal protective equipment prepare to distribute food throughout a public housing tower in North Melbourne as the city experiences a surge in cases
The surge is COVID-19 cases in Victoria has prompted the Northern Territory government to keep borders closed to residents from the southern state
NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the situation was 'rapidly evolving' which meant there was still plenty of time to make changes in the next 10 days if there were outbreaks in new areas.
The government made its decisions based on medical advice while recognising the restrictions had caused an economic crisis and could be in place long-term, she said.
'This could be in place for many months, it could be in place for up to a year,' she told reporters.
'In terms of people potentially planning travel, they should be aware that these their local government areas could be defined as a hot spot and therefore (would be) going into forced quarantine if they are planning any travel interstate post-July 17.
'This will allow some travel between Australian jurisdictions, we know that coronavirus has had a huge impact and people haven't been able to visit loved ones who may be seriously ill and had impacts on people attending funerals.
'We need to make sure the measures we put in place stand us into the future ... we need to be practical, we're going to be living with this for some time to come until a vaccine is rolled out.'
Last week a man in his 30s became the first positive case in Darwin in almost three months, after travelling from Pakistan to Melbourne where he completed quarantine but then stayed with relatives in one of the city's infection hot spots.
A sign is seen on Fleminngton Road near Flemington, Melbourne, Saturday, July 4, 2020
'There is no excuse': Gladys Berejiklian demands open borders with all states except Victoria
After closing the border to Victoria. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who has consistently argued against border closures, said other states have 'no excuse' for excluding residents of NSW, which recorded only 10 new cases on Monday, all from hotel quarantine.
'I also stress to the other states, now that New South Wales has taken this decision and given where we are, there is really no excuse for any other state, apart from Victoria, to have any border closures with New South Wales,' she said.
'I urge all the other states of Australia, in our national interest, to think about that.
Premier Gladys Berejikian has demanded that all states and territories except Victoria open their borders with New South Wales
'Given this move by the New South Wales Government, we now anticipate that the rest of the nation will be able to deal with each other directly without any hard border closures.'
Queensland is due to remove its hard border on 10 July except to Victorians while the Northern Territory is due to open up on the 17 July, except to residents from Melbourne hotspots.
South Australia said it would open up to eastern states on 20 July but has postponed that decision due to the Victorian outbreak.
Tasmania is targeting the 24 July but said it will 'keep an eye' on developments, while WA is yet to announce any relaxation of border measures.
Last month Ms Berejiklian slammed the Queensland government for refusing to open its borders to boost the economy.
Asked if she felt 'silly' because she was now herself shutting the NSW-VIC border she said 'not at all' because the situation in Victoria is 'very different' as it involves widespread community transmission.
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