Families from southern Africa spending Christmas in COVID-19 quarantine, even after travel ban lifts

If Yolandé and Hugo Barnard were to fly into Australia today from the United Kingdom, where more than 80,000 new COVID-19 cases are being recorded every day, they would be able to go straight home and have a quarantine-free Christmas. Key points: The federal government has abolished restrictions on Australians arriving from southern Africa However, the Northern Territory still requires people who arrive on repatriation flights to quarantine for 14 days 187 people are in quarantine in Howard Springs after arriving from Johannesburg last week But the couple flew to Australia on a repatriation flight last week, so they are currently stuck with their five kids in the Howard Springs quarantine facility in Darwin until Boxing Day. Troubled times When Australia followed the UK in putting restrictions on people arriving from southern Africa, Health Minister Greg Hunt said the decision was a "strong, swift, decisive, immediate, but precautionary" measure to stop the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. DFAT told the ABC that all passengers on government-facilitated flights arriving in Darwin must undertake 14 days of mandatory supervised quarantine in Howard Springs, in line with Northern Territory requirements. The Northern Territory's public health laws allow its Chief Health Officer to make directions considered "necessary, appropriate or desirable" to prevent the spread of COVID-19.