Several buses of repatriated Australians from the first flight to land from virus-ravaged India have left Darwin airport for Howard Springs quarantine facility.
More than 40 people who tested positive along with about 30 of their close contacts were barred from returning on QF 112, which had a COVID-safe capacity of 150 seats.
In all, between 75 and 80 returnees made it onto the eight-and-a-half hour flight, which touched down about 9.25am on Saturday.
The next government-facilitated flight from India is expected into Darwin on 23 May, bringing it to a total of 40 such flights since March 2020.
Both the PCR and rapid antigen tests are a prerequisite for being able to board.
The 26 per cent positive rate is far higher than the 3.5 per cent rate registered in passengers on the March repatriation flights.
Australia's High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell recognised the disappointment for those who missed out on boarding the flights.
"Clearly that will be disappointing for them and it’s disappointing for my team across India," he told SBS News on Friday.
"But they too want to return home safely - they too want to return home to an Australia, which is free of COVID."
Mr O'Farrell said the High Commission would have to consider what lessons need to be learned from the high-number of reported cases.
More than 9000 Australians are in India registered as wanting to return, about 900 of them said to be desperate or vulnerable.
The flight to New Delhi on Friday carried 1056 ventilators, 60 oxygen concentrators and other essential supplies, adding to a wealth of medical equipment sent last week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the controversial weeks-long pause in travel from India had worked, with active cases in hotel quarantine dropping more than 40 per cent over the past few weeks.
In the Northern Territory, the number of active cases has fallen from 53 to a handful although two US Marines who arrived as part of the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin on 9 April were added to the list on Saturday.
"The system is ready to respond," Mr Morrison said.
Mr O'Farrell said those who missed out on the first repatriation trip would be in line for other flights.
"When they have received treatment, when they have tested negative to COVID, they will be eligible again as vulnerable citizens for a future flight," he said.
Some 2.98 million vaccine doses have been administered so far across Australia.
The rollout is expected to get a massive boost when GPs start administering jabs to all over-50s from Monday
With reporting by SBS News.
