Australia’s biggest Covid quarantine camp to close after housing thousands of returned citizens as the NT declares the pandemic is OVER and scraps vaccine mandates and ALL rules
- Howard Springs facility in Darwin will cease operations as Covid rules are axed
- Facility was used to accommodate returned travellers from repatriation flights
- Vaccine mandates to be scrapped on June 16 as public health emergency ends
- Teachers, beauticians and hospitality workers no longer need to be triple-jabbed
Australia’s largest Covid-19 quarantine centre will close its door for good as the Northern Territory moves to scrap vaccine mandates.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced the Howard Springs facility 30km southeast of Darwin will cease operations by the end of the month.
Wide-reaching vaccine mandates are also set to be scrapped in just a weeks time as the NT’s public health emergency comes to an end on June 16.
The facility was used to accommodate those affected by the Covid-19 outbreak in the Katherine region as well as returned travellers from repatriation flights.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced the Howard Springs facility in Darwin will cease operations by the (pictured, a woman soaks up the sun a
Australia’s largest Covid quarantine centre will be closed as the Northern Territory scraps vaccine mandates (pictured, a woman is swabbed at the facility in January, 2021)
The NT is the last state or territory in Australia to require a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for much of its workforce.
From June 16, teachers, hospitality workers and beauticians will no longer need to be triple-vaccinated to attend their workplaces.
Recently-passed legislation will give the chief health minister the power to issue health directives, including rules on masks, isolation time and vaccines.
About 73 per cent of per cent of people aged 16 and older have had three jabs.
The Marrara Vaccination Centre is also due to close on June 30 due to the high uptake of the vaccine.
‘We are moving into a world where we are living with Covid,’ Ms Fyles told reporters during a press conference on Thursday.
‘We will end the public health emergency; the vaccine mandate will also end.
‘From June 16th, we will transition from a state of public health emergency to living with Covid as it becomes endemic in the community.’
About 73 per cent of per cent of people aged 16 and older have had three jabs (pictured, a nurse administers a Covid vaccine at a drive-through clinic in Melbourne)
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced the Howard Springs facility (pictured) 30km southeast of Darwin will cease operations during a press conference on Thursday
The facility made headlines last December after three teenagers who were close contacts of a confirmed Covid case escaped.
It sparked fears the Omicron sub-variant would spread into the community after a man at the centre tested positive for the mutation.
The latest incident was the second escape from the centre in a week, with a 27-year-old man allegedly breaking out of the facility before being found in a bar on Darwin’s Mitchell Street party strip last November.
The Howard Springs centre again came under fire after Americans on social media began comparing the facility to a ‘concentration camp’.
US-based conspiracy theorists reacted to news that three people had escaped the centre by likening the facility to ‘Auschwitz’, the infamous Nazi death camp for Jews.
Members of Australia’s Olympic team are among those who quarantined at Howard Springs – also known as the Centre for National Resilience – after their return from the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year.
The facility made headlines last December after three teenagers who were close contacts of a confirmed Covid case escaped (pictured, staff at the Howard Springs centre)
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