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Diphtheria notifications in Australia have been increasing since October 2025, with a marked increase since February 2026.
This year, so far, there have been more than 230 cases of diphtheria notified in Australia, a 30‑fold increase compared with the same period from 2022 to 2025.
The majority of cases have been among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and in outer regional and remote areas of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Declaring a CDINS enables enhanced coordination of national efforts from the Australian Government and state and territory governments – to stop the spread of diphtheria.
This declaration follows this week’s funding announcement from the Australian Government to support the Northern Territory Government, and the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Sector respond to the diphtheria outbreak.
The funding package will support:
- surge workforce to administer booster vaccinations and treatments, and to procure additional vaccines and antibiotics
- culturally safe communications, community liaison and other on-the-ground public health supports.
This builds on the CDC’s existing and ongoing work to support the states and territories in their outbreak response, including:
- national monitoring, epidemiological analysis, and reporting of case numbers, trends, impact and severity to inform targeted response activities
- facilitating ongoing national laboratory genomic analysis
- providing evidence based, nationally consistent public health guidance, such as the diphtheria outbreak management guidance
- working with relevant national committees and community controlled health organisations to garner public health expertise and develop clear and relevant communication products.
Learn more
For more information, see the:
- Chief Medical Officer’s statement
- Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler’s funding announcement
- Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for the latest case numbers
- weekly diphtheria epidemiology reports
- diphtheria webpage for a summary of the current outbreak and vaccination recommendations.