Many Indigenous Territorians arefinding it increasingly difficult to isolate andkeep up with the frequent changes toCOVID-19 health advice, say leaders of Aboriginal peak bodies.

John Paterson, chief executive of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT), said the "consistent changing of the different measures [and] different restrictions" was "really confusing".

"That model won't work here in the Northern Territory in our remote communities," he said.

"When we've got large populations residing in dwellings with 20+ people,you can't isolate and you can't do all of those other public health measures."

To overcome this barrier, he suggested the Commonwealth or NT governments set up Defence Force-styleisolation facilities in overcrowdedcommunities.

"If there's overcrowding in communities we need to get a team out there to assess whether it is viable to erect one of these huge defence [tents] these temporary isolation facilities," he said.

Mr Paterson said he also wanted more clinicians on the ground assessing and treating coronavirus patients in remote areas.

"Weneed help, and if we don't get help we're going to have a dire situation probably have deaths on our hands and we don't want to see that happening," he said.

The low-vaccinatedcommunity of Utopia in Central Australia entered a seven-day lockdown on Saturday after recording 22 coronavirus cases.

A further two cases were recorded on Sunday.

Michael Gravener, CEO of the local Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation, said he was worried potential flooding ofkey roads would blockaccess to food and medicine during the lockdown.

"Our biggest concern is, in a few days if there's no back-up plan for things like if we can't access those homelands because of the weather, we've got the perfect storm here," hesaid.

"With more and more consistent rainfall, we could have serious issues getting in and out."

He said the NT government should have a "helicopter on stand-by for food drops if need be, and medicines for people".

"We've got the food, and the store's got the food, but the issue is with distributing it," he said.

Mr Gravener agreed"communication was a serious problem", sayinghe had no idea the homelands in Utopia wereentering lockdown until it was announced in Saturday'spress conference.

"A lot of people are really poor here, so to expect them to live in isolation in some of the housing conditions they live in, is a big ask," he said.

Hesaid he supported Mr Paterson's suggestion of setting up mobile isolation facilities, "even if it's a big tent system where you've got a fan and lots of airflow".

Another hurdlefacingsome Territorians is easy access to COVID-19 testing.

On Sunday, 212 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the NT overnight.

But Scott McIntyre, CEO of Thamarrurr Development Corporation, said people sleeping rough had found it difficult to get tested for the virus.

"There's no way for them to get to East Arm [testing clinic]," he said.

"We have had people catching taxis tothe testing clinic, spending over $100 in a taxi just to get there and get tested so they can get home.

"Some of those people in taxis are being turned away, and told there's too many people in the car. Some people have gone through to get RAT tests and been given PCRs."

Mr McIntyre saidthe corporation helpedabout 30 people from Wadeye in the West Daly region on Friday who were unable to get tested for coronavirusbefore they were due to travel.

"We found nine positive cases in that cohort," he said.

Mr McIntyre said the regular changes to COVID-19 health messaginghad made it difficult for some Territorians to keep up, especially if English wasn't their first language.

"It's not accessible to them from a language perspective, a world view perspective and the whole system is set up in a way that is really difficult for them to navigate," he said.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the government was willing to help improve access tocoronavirus testing.

"We're willing to work with those remote communities that have organisations that represent them, to try and ensure that there is a supply," she said.

"But we need to make sure that we keep our RAT tests for the clinical guidelines that our health officials have advised us."

The NT government said NT Health will continue to post regular coronavirus updates on its social media channels, including information about who needs to isolate and get tested.

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Changing COVID-19 health advice, barriers to testing and isolating are disadvantaging Aboriginal Territorians, say peak bodies - ABC News