Australia has been building green zone camps at a speed. One of these detention centres is known as ‘The Howard Springs quarantine facility’ in the Northern Territory; the facility has been reported to have reached full capacity for international arrivals for the first time last week.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has told Parliament the facility would reach capacity for repatriated Australians in the coming weeks. The “gold standard” facility, known as the ‘Centre for National Resilience’, also has capacity to house about 1,000 domestic travellers from the so called declared hotspots.

In May, the federal government paused incoming flights due to an increase in positive COVID-19 cases at Howard Springs, with concerns the facility and Darwin’s hospital system, could be overwhelmed if more cases arrived.

It is of great concern that when people are put into these detention centres no one is allowed to visit them, no one knows what goes on into these centres which makes lot of people worrisome.

In their goal to have as many people admitted into these detention centres, the Northern Territory (NT) Health Department said it was confident the centre would be able to cope with the rise in occupancy numbers this month, saying it had been “building its workforce” to be able to support 2,000 residents under the repatriation program.

It added that the facility had a separate red zone for positive COVID cases that can accommodate up to 50 residents.