The Northern Territory government has declared the Greater Brisbane area a coronavirus hotspot, restricting travel to the Territory.
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Anyone arriving from Brisbane from Friday will be required to enter mandatory supervised quarantine.
Acting Chief Minister Nicole Manison said that would also impact people who arrived in Darwin on a flight from Brisbane on Friday morning and those on two more on the way.
People on those flights will not be required to pay the $2500 quarantine fee and will also be offered the option of an immediate and free return flight.
A fourth flight from Brisbane to Yulara touched down at around the time the new measures came into force with Jetstar making the decision to return immediately with all passengers on board.
"I know this is very difficult for those people have been impacted and will be impacted," Ms Manison said.
"But I've just got to stress, this is about keeping Territorians safe."
The new restrictions also apply to anyone arriving from Brisbane by road, with a 12.30pm (CST) deadline set to avoid the quarantine fee.
Anyone who arrived in the Territory since January 2, but before the new restrictions were enforced was highly recommended to get tested and self-isolate until receiving the result.
But no formal order has been put in place.
The NT measures follow the three-day lockdown ordered for Brisbane by the Queensland government after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was diagnosed with the more contagious UK variant of COVID-19.
Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie said the hotspot declaration was consistent with the Territory's commitment to go "hard and wide early".
"The positive case in Greater Brisbane is the first case of this new highly contagious strain of the virus, outside of quarantine in Australia," he said.
"For this reason, we are taking a cautious approach while we wait and watch what happens over their three-day lockdown period.
"The decisions made in the coming days will be critical."
Ms Manison said the latest measures emphasised the need for people to carefully consider any travel plans because things could change quickly.
"We have always said we would act hard, we would act fast to keep Territorians safe," she said.
She said Chief Minister Michael Gunner had been holidaying in regional Queensland but had not been to the Greater Brisbane area during the period of concern.
He was currently making his way back to Darwin after participating in the national cabinet meeting.
Australian Associated Press
