Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All eyes are on the situation in Sydney with the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: COVID hot sposh and well the COVID cluster I guess
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you'd say in those hot spot declarations. Now joining us
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: on the line to give us a bit of an
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: update on the situation is the Health Minister Natasha Files.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Minister, Good.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Morning, Katie, Good morning Katie. Good morning listeners.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Now Filesy give us the latest on this COVID update
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the hot spots.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: What is the latest advice to territorians.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: So presently we have a hot spot declaration for the
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Greatest Sydney Metropolitan Area which also includes the Illawarra and
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: the Central Coast, and this is based off the Northern
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Beaches cluster and we saw those numbers this time last
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: week we barely had any cases and they rose sharply
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: over the weekend. We did have to make that tough
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: decision on Sunday afternoon to declare the broader hot spot,
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: which we know impacted people and has ruined some people's
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Christmas plans. But we must take steps to keep territory
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: in space. This morning, how Chief Health Office will participate
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: in HPBC. I understand it is an extended meeting today
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: and then the Emergency Cabinet of the Northern Churchary Government
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: will reconvene to decide what next steps. Do we need
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: to maintain the status quo do we need to increase
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: We know that there's been a case in regional Orange,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: so we need to listen for that information from HPPC
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: and the New South Wales authorities before we make any
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: further decisions.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Do we have any idea in Sydney today if the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: number of cases have grown at this stage. I understand
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: their premier, gladysparajic Lan is due to give an update fairly.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Soon, Katie. I think those numbers would just be getting
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: released now. I understand that they provide them at eleven
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: am Sydney time with the premiere of New South Wales,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: which is right now. I haven't seen those statistics, but
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: I'll wait for the advice to come through those formal channels.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: It would be promising, of course, is that if they're
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: very low case numbers. But it's also the information behind
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: these statistics, Katie. So far we've seen it very much
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: linked to the Avalon cluster. But if we start to
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: see community transmission away from that, even though those numbers
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: might be low. That would be concerning.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, by the look of things, I am just reading
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: this right now. There were eight locally acquired COVID nineteen
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: cases reported from more than forty four thousand tests in
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: New South Wales on Tuesday. That is, I believe the latest,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: But we are, like you said, I think we're expecting
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: further information throughout the morning, so I think that figure
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: might actually be the latest from overnight or eight yesterday.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: There's no doubt.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: It's an ever evolving situation, Minister, no doubt about it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: How long do you think we're going to have this
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: hot spot declaration in place for those areas or is
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: it too early to tell?
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Katie it's too early. I'm sorry that I can't answer
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: that question. I know there's people that want to head
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: down to Sydney. It is a huge number of people
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: that are impacted in terms of the population of Sydney,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: which means territorians can't visit them and they can't visit us.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: But we have done an amazing job. And when i't
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: say we, I'm in territory in they have adhered to
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the rules, they've adhered to the advice from our clinical
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: professionals and we've kept territory in safe. We haven't had
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: community transmission. We've seen no deaths in the territory this
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: year from coronavirus in terms of community transmission, so we
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: need to take those steps to keep it that way.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Minister, how many people have been tested here in the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory over the last couple of days, following on
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: from the hot spot declaration, but also following on from
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the announcement that those who traveled to Sydney from December
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: eleven would need to be tested.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, I haven't received the figures today, but I
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: know that there were seven hundred people approximately tested on
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Monday alone, So territorians have certainly responded. And just to
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: put that into context for your listeners, we were averaging
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: between two to three hundred tests last week each day
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: if you're very going each day, but that jumps significantly
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: on Monday. I haven't had the figures through yet from yesterday,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: so we extended the Center for Disease Control the hotline
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: length of time that it was available, and we doubled
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: the testing capacity at the Pandemic Clinic at Roza In Hospital.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: I know some people were frustrated, Katie and getting through
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: to the hotline, and I apologize for that. Please use
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: the callback service and we will get in touch with you.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: And I know people were trying to get those test
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: booked in, but we certainly have provided the resources and
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: territories have responded with that significant increase on Monday.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand that some people.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: The ABC online was reporting some people waiting up to
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: two hours on the phone line to get through.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Is that acceptable in your eyes?
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, we have these questions and the information needs
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: to be taken by a clinical person, and so I've
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: had to call this number. I've told the community that
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I've been tested, and when you call, you actually have
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: to go through a number of questions that need to
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: be asked by someone clinical. So it's not simply a
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: matter of just getting anyone to take those calls. There's
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: got to be procedure behind it. But the callback service
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: is excellent. That was I utilized. Just provided my details,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: so I encourage people to rather than hang on the line,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: your place will be kept in the queue with that
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: callback service if you do need to get a test.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: And so I'll get those further testing numbers later today.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Around how many people were testing yesterday, and there was
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: certainly capacity for testing to take place. There was test spots.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Available still, Okay, because it was being reported yesterday that
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: three thousand to eight hundred Territorians or people here in
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: the territory needed to self isolate and be tested. Are
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: you confident that you'll be able to get through all
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: of those people ahead of Christmas?
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Katie? That threey eight hundred figure. I understand that that
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: was border arrival forms, so that was in the paper yesterday,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: and so people go online and fill in the border
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: arrival form. So some people might go online and do
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: it on a Wednesday for their travel on a Saturday
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: or Sunday, they might not end up traveling. So that's
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: not an accurate figure in terms of the number of
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: people that need testing. That's just simply a figure of
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: a point in time of people that is stilled in
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: those border arrivals from Okay.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: So Minister, are you confident though, that everybody that's arrived
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: from December eleven onwards that is self isolating at the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: moment and needs to be tested? Are you confident that
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: they're going to be able to get those tests ahead
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of Christmas?
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: So, Katie from the Statistics I saw with that sharp
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: increase in test numbers and calls to the Center for
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Disease Control, I'm confident that people have done the right thing.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: So we saw a little bit of an increase on
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Friday when the Northern Beach is got was called. But
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: when that broader area of Sydney Metropolitan, we certainly saw
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: territori ins reach out, calling and getting tested and self
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: isolating while they were waiting for those results. And that
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: is the Christmas present that they can give all of us,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: because we need to make sure this sneaky little virus
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: hasn't snuck into the territory and in a few weeks
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: time we'll see that impact.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Is it tom for us to start testing the sewerage?
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, that's a question that I've asked our chief
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Health officer many times. There needs to be the science
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: behind it. We have seen other jurisdic undertake that sewerage
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: testing and it does provide quite useful data. But when
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: you don't have community transmission, you haven't seen cases. It
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: could create false positives With people that have previously had
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: the virus, They've been cleared of the virus, they're absolutely
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: well and there's no risk to the community, but they're
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: still shedding that viral load and that could give us
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: false positives. So it's a question that the Chief Health
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Officer continues to look at would it be beneficial in
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory to undertake that wastewater testing.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So it is something that is on the agenda, but
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: that's a decision for the Chief Health Officer, Hugh Hegey
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: at this point.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Correct we'd be guided clinically whether we would start to
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: undertake that process, what will be trying to achieve from it,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: and would that be worthwhile. They're the questions that he
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: certainly would provide us with advice on.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, Minister, can I just get a bit of an
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: update on how many people we've got out at Howard
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Springs at the moment and how many were anticipating and
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: going to be out there over Christmas?
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, So for some people it won't quite be
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: the Christmas theed plan, but we'll make sure they've got
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: some Christmas cheer. There's around one hundred and sixty people, Katie,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: on what we refer to as the domestic side of
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: the National Resilience Center at Howard Springs. Now, some of
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: those people Katie, are workers that have been working offshore
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: and oil rigs, for example, and some of those are
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: people caught up in the hot spot. So that's on
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: the domestic side. And then we have around five hundred
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: slightly over five hundred that are from those international arrivals.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: So that's the number of people at Howard Springs and.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: How many have got COVID At the moment, Katie, we've
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: got seventy two cases that have been confirmed, and of
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: that there were thirty four that were territory cases, all
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: related to travel.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Both domestically and internationally early on in the COVID pandemic.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: And then we have had since we've started in October
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: repatriating those vulnerable Australians a further thirty eight cases from that.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: So we still have a number of active cases from
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: those return travelers. I think it's around ten, Katie, and
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: they're being cared for by the Center for National Resilience
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: or rors are in hospital of course, adhering to the
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: highest infection control.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Minister, I've just received a message from one of our listeners.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: It says, Hi, Katie, could you please ask the Health
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Minister why the four councils in New South Wales that
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: were mistakenly noted as hot spots and have since been
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: removed from national hotspots. Why the NT government still has
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: these people in quarantine, So.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Katie, I would have to look into that. So our
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: chief Health Officer makes a direction. That's the declaration of
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: the hot Spots. This is very thoroughly tested. There is
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: a difference between different states and territories, and so I'm
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: not sure what reference it is. Whether some jurisdictions may
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: have removed some areas, but Hugh Heavy is constantly looking
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: at what areas he can add and what areas he
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: could safely remove. So I'll take that question or notice
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: it and seek some advice around why perhaps for local
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: government areas. But the declaration that we made was based
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: off the clinical advice we needed to go into the
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Illawari region. And I know from memory, Katie, looking at
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: those local government maps there is a couple of shys
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: that you know are very close together. So perhaps that's
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: their response.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we'll see what we can find out. If
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: there is an update, please do let us know, minister.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Can I just ask you just with your tourism hat
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: on for a moment. It is being reported that jet
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Stars canceled those flights between Sydney and the territory from
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Christmas Day until at least January eighth due to the cluster.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Now the airline announced that all those flights between Sydney
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and Darwin and Sydney and Ularu would be halted.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Did the airline notify.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: You that that was happening as a Tourism minister, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: if those hot spots are lifted, do you think that
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: they will get those flights back in place.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, we saw a commercial announcement yesterday from Jet
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Star that's from Christmas Day, so I think the eighth
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: of January. They are not going to fly from the
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Sydney metropolitan area. This is a commercial decision that they
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: have to make. We are in contact with the Quantious Group,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: which was a part of I'm not sure how it
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: came through formally, but I certainly was advised by my
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: team that Jetstar had to delay those cancel those flights,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: which of course is disappointing for travelers from non hot
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: spot areas. But these are commercial decisions and we've certainly
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: seen throughout the year of twenty twenty massive disruption to
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: airlines and in terms of the territory.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: It's had an impact, yeah, no doubt about it, and
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: particularly on tourism. Minister, we are going to have to
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: get ready to wrap up, but we do want to
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: say a big thank you for all of the time
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that you give up to be on this show. You
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: join us weekly to talk about some of the issues
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: that are really tough ones to talk about. Well, you know,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I think most in the media have probably nicknamed you
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the Minister for bad news, but you always front up
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and for that we're very appreciative. I hope you have
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: a lovely Christmas with your family. I know it will
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: be a busy one, but we hope you have a
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: lovely Christmas. And thank you again for all the time
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: that you give to us on three point sixty Oh.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, and thanks to all your listeners. I certainly
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: get feedback after I've been on your show, good, bad,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: or indifference, and so to everyone listening, wishing them as
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: faith and merry Christmas. I'm out in the community today.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I'm dropping off some goodies to some of the oldies
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: and people in public housing and some of the businesses. So,
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: you know, I hope twenty twenty, you know, it can
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: just become a distant memory. In twenty twenty one is
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: filled with the lots up, brighter hope, and we certainly
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: want to move on from this pandemic, but we still
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: are in the midst of it right now, and we're
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: reminded of that with the decisions we had to make
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: last Sunday.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Good on your Fasie. Thanks so much for your time,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you again.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: In the new year.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Take care, Wolfe.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you,