Central Australia's peak Aboriginal health body has warned "a Tsunami of COVID cases is coming" to the region and has called for a "complete lockdown" of the area to prevent further spread.
Central Australian Aboriginal Congress acting chief executive Josie Douglas said the region had reached "breaking point" and a lockdown was a much-needed "circuit breaker" for health authorities to get on top of the outbreak.
The NT government has already introduced lockouts, which limit the movement of unvaccinated people, in Alice Springs, Amoonguna, Yuendumu and Yuelamu.
A separate lockdown is currently in place in the Utopia Homelands, a community that NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles says has a vaccination rate of about 40 per cent.
Despite the plea from the congress, Ms Fyles says current health advice does not recommend plunging the entire region into lockdown.
But Dr Douglas insisted existing measures do not go far enough.
"The lockout is proving to be totally ineffective," she said.
"People are moving in and around Alice Springs, moving from community to community.
"The situation is Central Australia is dire."
Dr Douglas wants an immediate seven-day lockdown, to be re-assessed at the end of the week and extended as needed.
COVID-19 cases in Alice Springs and nearby Aboriginal communities have been steadily growing since the NT re-opened its borders in mid-December.
"We believe there are far more positive cases in Alice Springs and remote communities than is being reported on," Dr Douglas said.
"We need urgent action to get on top of the numbers before the numbers get away from us.
"A lockdown buys us time."
NTG says current health measures are 'proportionate'
Ms Fyles said the government was following health advice, which at this stage did not recommend a full lockdown through Central Australia.
"We believe that the public health measures that we have in place are proportionate," she said.
Ms Fyles said although there was "certainly a lot of cases in Central Australia", the government had introduced a raft of measures to help keep people safe.
This included a Territory-wide mask mandate, testing regimes for remote communities, and several lockouts in the region, which she said kept unvaccinated Territorians safe.
"Our unvaccinated population are much more at risk and are also a much greater burden on our health system," Ms Fyles said.
Low vaccination rates in some Central Australian communities
In NT government-managed remote Aboriginal communities across Central Australia, the vaccination rate of residents five and older is just 61 per cent.
Ms Fyles acknowledged the low vaccination rates in some communities, and said townships with low rates were more likely to be put into lockdown if cases surged.
Many remote residents also have complex health conditions, making them vulnerable to severe COVID-19 disease, but chronic issues with overcrowding mean it is a struggle to self-isolate at home.
There are currently outbreaks in many town camps across Central Australia, as well as in the Alice Springs Correction Centre.
Ms Fyles did not completely rule out a future lockdown in Central Australia
She said health authorities met every day to look at daily caseloads, the number of patients in hospital and vaccination rates.
"Decisions are made each and every day and we're certainly very agile in those decisions and change them based on the health advice," Ms Fyles said.
