The NT's peak Aboriginal health body has criticised the government's claim its current COVID outbreak is "under control", suggesting any "overly-optimistic assurances" about rising case numbers will lead to further spread of the virus.
Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT CEO John Paterson said he had been "concerned" by comments made by Chief Minister Michael Gunner last week, in which the territory leader defended the government's handling of escalating COVID cases.
"There are people, some very loud voices, who would like you to think that every case of COVID is a catastrophe, that everybody should be taken out of their home and put into a hospital," Mr Gunner said on Friday.
"Their heart is in the right place. But a response like that will be the medical equivalent of panic buying."
Mr Gunner urged for calm and said widespread transmission of Omicron was what authorities had expected and prepared for.
He said COVID-19 tests were prioritised for people who were symptomatic, and hospital beds and spots on evacuation flights were for "seriously sick" patients or those who most needed it.
There are now 7,370 active coronavirus cases in the NT, with the virus infiltrating every region and many remote Aboriginal communities.
On Monday, 156 people with COVID were in Territory hospitals, and on Sunday, the NT also recorded its fifth COVID-related death.
Three people in the NT have died with coronavirus in the past week.
Mr Paterson said elective surgeries being postponed was a sign the health system wasn't coping, and he was worried about "significant shortage" of rapid antigen tests (RATs) in some remote communities as well as the cancellation of some specialist outreach services.
"AMSANT is concerned that evidence that the NT COVID response is not under control is not being sufficiently acknowledged," he said.
"We know we can't stop spread but we need to still flatten the curve as case numbers continue at 1,000 a day with no sign of the peak they have been promising for weeks.
Mr Paterson said people in remote Aboriginal communities couldn't properly self-isolate and called — again — for the government to establish group isolation facilities.
The government has previously resisted this call.
NT Health system 'well placed' to manage outbreak
Based on Doherty Modelling, the NT government previously said its health system would cope with between 30 and 100 hospital admissions per day.
NT Deputy Chief Minster Nicole Manison said the Doherty figures were based on Delta, and the vast majority of the territory's cases were Omicron, which made the data less reliable.
"We know [the Omicron variant] is highly contagious, but generally people are suffering from a milder illness," she said.
"Our hospital system is well placed to deal with what we've been seeing and what we will continue to see over the next few weeks with COVID presentations.
"We are managing this pandemic and will continue to do so."
Mr Paterson said, based on AMSANT's calculations, the NT now had the highest per capita rate of hospitalisations in the country.
"Our current rate is the equivalent of double the NSW peak," he said.
Ms Manison didn't dispute AMSANT''s figures, but pointed out that even prior to the pandemic, the NT had the highest rate of potentially preventable hospitalisations in Australia.
"I would argue that we have the highest level of health conditions and disadvantage and unfortunately, people that live with medical conditions that are problematic in their lives," she said.
"We have the highest proportion of those people in the country living here in the Northern Territory.
"It's not surprising that we do see with those hospitalisations, a lot of those people being bought into the hospital system for observation because they do have underlying health conditions."
Booster rates still lag in remote communities
Mr Paterson said there were "still too many" people in the NT who had yet to receive their third vaccine dose.
"We understand that this is largely a mild disease for those who are fully vaccinated, especially where boosted, but too many people aren't.
"Boosters are essential protection particularly for older and sicker people who still have significant risk of hospitalisation if they are only double vaccinated."
Most patients who have been hospitalised with COVID in the NT have been Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, a cohort that is at higher risk of severe disease if infected.
NT government data shows 38 per cent of people 18 and older have had their booster shot.
In some remote Aboriginal communities, where some of the NT's most vulnerable people live, fewer than five per cent of people have had their booster shot.
In Central Australia, 14 per cent of people living in remote communities managed by NT Health have had their third dose.
