Right: The Northern Territory's Howard Springs quarantine facility, a former workers' camp outside Darwin, the NT's capital city, is isolated enough to be secure, but close enough to the capital to allow the use of medical and other services.
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Background information
Much of the information supplied below is abbreviated from the Wikipedia entry titled 'COVID-19 pandemic in Australia'. The full text can be accessed at
) COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January 2020, in Victoria, when a man who had returned from Wuhan, China, tested positive for the virus.[
Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March, and returning residents were required to spend two weeks in supervised quarantine hotels from 27 March. Many individual states and territories also closed their borders to varying degrees, with some remaining closed until late 2020, and continuing to periodically close during localised outbreaks. Social distancing rules were imposed on 21 March, and state governments started to close "non-essential" services. "Non-essential services" included social gathering venues such as pubs and clubs but unlike many other countries did not include most business operations such as construction, manufacturing and many retail categories. The number of new cases initially grew sharply, then levelled out at about 350 per day around 22 March, and started falling at the beginning of April to under 20 cases per day by the end of the month.
A second wave of infections emerged in Victoria during May and June, which was attributed to an outbreak at a Melbourne quarantine hotel. The second wave, though largely localised to Melbourne, was much more widespread and deadlier than the first; at its peak, the state had over 7,000 active cases. Victoria underwent a second strict lockdown which eventually lasted almost four months. The wave ended with zero new cases being recorded on 26 October.
As of 24 February 2021, Australia has reported 28,939 cases, 25,486+ recoveries, and 909 deaths, with Victoria's second wave accounting for nearly 75 percent of cases and 90 percent of fatalities. The stated goal of the National Cabinet is "zero community transmission", in contrast to the mitigation strategies implemented by most other nations. Compared to other Western countries, notably the United States and European countries, Australia's handling has been praised for its effectiveness.
Howard Springs quarantine facility, Northern Territory
An accommodation facility was built at Howard Springs, 29 km south east of the Darwin central business district, in 2012 by Japanese energy company Inpex to accommodate up to 3500 workers. The facility was closed and abandoned in 2018. From early 2020, the facility became a quarantine facility for people returning to Australia from areas infected with COVID-19, initially on 9 February 2020 from Wuhan. The facility has been owned by the Northern Territory Government since 2019 and has been made available to the federal government for quarantine purposes.
It operates under strict protocols. Workers are tested daily and filmed as they don and remove their protective gear to ensure they are doing so safely. There is daily training for all workers and rules that ensure catering staff are always accompanied by clinicians when delivering meals.
There is strict control of entry into the centre and of movement between different sectors. Crews at the international wing are forbidden from crossing over to the domestic, Northern Territory government-run section of Howard Springs and spaces are not shared. Security staff are barred from the 'hot zone', instead tasked with detailing who enters the high-risk parts of the facility and at what times. Repatriated Australians are met by a clinical team at the RAAF base and swabbed on arrival, with anyone displaying symptoms separated from the group and individually transported to the facility. Anyone who tests positive in quarantine is moved to a section of the facility equipped with a dedicated medical team.