Smokers locked up in hotel quarantine amid coronavirus lockdown are banned from lighting up and are told to use nicotine gum or patches instead
- Quarantined smokers appealed to the NT government to let them smoke outside
- Chief Minister Michael Gunner said smokers should ‘tough it out’ or use patches
- Smokers with hotel balconies are allowed to smoke but those inside are not
Smokers locked up in hotel quarantine have been told to kick their habit for the duration of their forced stay or use nicotine gum and patches to get by.
Under strict rules introduced into the Northern Territory in late March, travellers have been detained in hotels and prohibited from leaving their rooms.
While those with balconies attached to their rooms are allowed to smoke freely, those without have been banned from lighting up.
Smokers forcefully quarantined in Darwin hotels have been banned from going outside to get their fix
Chief Minister Michael Gunner shot down appeals from smokers in Darwin hotels to be let out of their rooms to get their fix and told them to ‘tough it out’, according to NT News.
‘You are not allowed to leave your room, and that includes for a smoke break,’ he said.
‘We had 99 per cent compliance for self-quarantine, that’s great but not good enough. I want 100 per cent. That’s why we went to forced quarantine and allowing people out for a smoke break is not 100 per cent.
‘Put on a patch or chew some gum. Tough it out for a fortnight because there’s no way you’re going outside.’
Since the strict new measures were introduced the amount of people arriving in the NT has dropped considerably from 288 on March 29 to just 18 people on April 5.
It comes as travellers around the country have been caught blatantly ignoring strict rules to stay in their hotel rooms to stop the spread of the disease that has claimed the lives of 45 Australians, as of Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, a Sydney woman shared a video online of herself and three other quarantined guests sitting outside their rooms rolling bottles of beer towards each other.
The video was captioned ‘ISO trades’ and showed the travellers quarantined under law breaching rules by interacting with each other outside their rooms.
She later showed herself vaping outside her doorway before filming the Australian Army soldiers walking down the hallway with a hotel employee.
Border force guards are understood to be watching each floor, with those in isolation warned they will be handed $1000 fines if they’re caught leaving their hotel room.
Travellers around the country have been caught ignoring rules to stay in quarantined to stop the spread of the disease that has claimed the lives of 45 Australians, as of Tuesday morning.