Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles about PCR testing for travel and how the NT's health system is coping with the Covid rise

Transcript

Katie spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles about PCR testing for travel and how the NT's health system is coping with the Covid rise · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The territory's borders opened yesterday to fully vaccinated Australians. At
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the same time, the situation in Central Australia continues to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: cause concern. Now joining me on the line for an
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: update is the Health Minister Natasha Files.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, Good morning.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Listen now, Minister.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: The bord has opened obviously to the Northern Territory yesterday
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: about two thousand arrivals touchdown in Darwin and Dallas Springs.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: How are things looking at this stage? Did any positive
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: cases arrive yesterday?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: So Katie, I'll head into the Health and Emergency Management
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: briefing once we finished speaking and we'll be fully updated
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: on the situation from our health officials and the Territory Controller,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: and then we'll step out and make sure the community
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: is aware of the latest information. But things are going well.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: It is concerning that we have got a number of
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: cases that have spread from that top end cluster that
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Winn in Pacastin and now it's gone further down into
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: the Barsley in Central Australia. But we are stepping forward
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: into the new normal with those borders reopening without quarantine,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: but there is still public health measures with that testing
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: regime in place, so it certainly reflects the efforts of
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: territory and in getting vaccinated and achieving no high vaccination rates.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we will talk a little bit more about
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  Speaker 1: the situation in Central Australia in just a couple of moments.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: But I do want to ask there's been concerns raised
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: about testing capacity. Arrivals must present a negative COVID test
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  Speaker 1: and agree to be tested on days three and six
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of being in the Northern Territory. How is that testing
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: going after day one yesterday?
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, So this is something that I know across
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the country. We've seen a surgeon the need for testing
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: and some people are panicking that they're not getting results
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: before they get on flight. So just to reassure the
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: community of the regime, you do need to have that
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  Speaker 3: test seventy two hours or less, so that when you
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: land in VAO and you can present a negative test.
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  Speaker 3: If for some reason that is interrupted, our health officials
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: will book you in for a test here in the territory.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: They will ask you to head to your residence and
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: isolate until you receive a negative test results. So you
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: could receive the results from interstate that you were waiting
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: on and then you're free to move about the community
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: or you will need to go and get that test
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: in the territory and get that result. So in terms
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: of testing, we are increasing our capacity throughout the holiday period,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: but people do need to bear with us. It is
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: stepping forward. Domestic trouble isn't what it used to be
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: and there is a lot of changes. But I think
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  Speaker 3: our teams are doing a great job and we just
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: asked for patients from the public.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: So just to go back to that, some people are
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: arriving and despite obviously being tested into state, they've not
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: received their results back. Yesterday we learned that those people
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: will now have to isolate until they get their test results.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: So they don't have to go into Howard Springs to isolate.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Do they are able to isolate in their homes, their
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: airbnb or in their hotel room?
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  Speaker 3: Correct, So if they can just have patients show the
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: border officials that they had a booking thread tests they
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: undertook that test. They're still waiting on the result. We know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: particularly out of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, that
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: there is significant delays in the testing. So despite their
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: best efforts, they've inadvertently been caught up in this. We'll
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: book them for a test. They must isolate, Katie, at
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  Speaker 3: that location that you just said. They don't have to
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: go to Howard Springs, but it is important they isolate.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: But as soon as they get that result, if it
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: comes through form inter state, you know that afternoon, they're
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: fine to move about the community. And equally, they do
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: need to get a test in the territory within the
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  Speaker 3: first seventy two hours. So I do urge them to
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  Speaker 3: keep that booking, go and get that test, and that
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  Speaker 3: provides them with that coverage. That is a requirement as well.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Can I confirm as well for those people arriving who
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: have to have these three tests that they are free.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, So this is something that's been talked about
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  Speaker 3: around the country. We very much know that testing is
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  Speaker 3: an important public health measure because we can catch COVID early,
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  Speaker 3: we can isolate people and care for them. Yes, our
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: test is free. There are some providers that we'll charge
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: for those trouble tests, but if you're booking through the
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: NTG system, it is absolutely no cost.
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  Speaker 2: Now does that go both ways?
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  Speaker 1: If you're traveling from the northern territory into another state
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  Speaker 1: and you need to test done before you leave.
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  Speaker 2: Is that free as well?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, all the NTG testing is free.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, We've had quite a number of listeners contact us
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  Speaker 1: over the last few days, so not just since these
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  Speaker 1: border rules changed, but over the last few days to
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  Speaker 1: say that there's been delays in getting test results back.
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  Speaker 1: How long does it take to get a test result
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  Speaker 1: back from one of those PCR tests.
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  Speaker 3: So, Katie, it should be within about forty eight hours.
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  Speaker 3: We are prioritizing our close contacts and we should aim
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: to have close contacts of our outbreak within twenty four hours.
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  Speaker 3: But yes, there has been a surge in testing, and
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  Speaker 3: I spoke to Healthy yesterday about this, asking them to
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  Speaker 3: work through the system. We don't believe it's in our laboratories.
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  Speaker 3: It's getting information to people looking at how we can
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  Speaker 3: absolutely ensure that is within a reasonable timeframe, because I
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: too have had people raise four days with me and
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  Speaker 3: that's not acceptable for the purposes of what we're trying
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: to achieve. So we are focused on reducing that.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, two thousand arrivals yesterday alone. Do we have
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  Speaker 1: the capacity to be able to deal with tests like
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: that number.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, our love can turn around about ten thousand
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  Speaker 3: tests a day, and we're working towards when travel really
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: is back to more normal situations in that February onward space.
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  Speaker 3: We want to be able to do that ten thousand
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  Speaker 3: tests a day because, as I just said, testing is
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  Speaker 3: such a key part of the public health response. So yes,
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  Speaker 3: we've got the capacity. It's working through the systems of
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  Speaker 3: getting that information back to individuals. And I do understand
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  Speaker 3: there is sum delayed at the moment, and we apologize
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  Speaker 3: for that, and I'm working with Health to see how
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  Speaker 3: we can streamline that.
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  Speaker 1: So the testing isn't having to be sent into state
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  Speaker 1: or anything, is it.
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  Speaker 2: It's being done right here in the territory.
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  Speaker 3: Katie, were both our testing for COVID and the genomic
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  Speaker 3: sequencing is being done here in the territory. The only
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  Speaker 3: tests that are centers interstate is that wastewater testing because
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: it's a highly specialized machine.
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  Speaker 1: All right, moving along, three new cases obviously out of
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  Speaker 1: Central Australia yesterday, Tenant Craig two of those, as I understand,
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  Speaker 1: presented to the hospital there in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: Are you concerned about.
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  Speaker 1: This situation that we've got unfolding in Central Australia.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: I am concerned. I'm particularly concerned because of the low
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: vaccination rate within Tenant Creek and the Barkley region. So
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: that's why we made the decision to extend that lockdown
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: until five pm on Wednesday, the twenty seven of December.
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  Speaker 3: So we really need the community to come forward and
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: get vaccinated. We saw that in Catherine, Katy and a
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: big shout out to your listeners in Catherine. I know
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: there's many. Catherine has achieved eighty nine percent fully backed
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: as of late last week, so it can be done.
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  Speaker 3: And that's why we are concerned because we don't have
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: those vaccination rates in that community.
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  Speaker 1: What is the vaccination rate in Tenant Creek? I know
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  Speaker 1: that Steve Edgington was fairly critical on the show yesterday
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  Speaker 1: saying that there hasn't been a great deal of communication
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  Speaker 1: between the government and him as the local member and
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  Speaker 1: the people of Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 2: What is the vaccination rting Tenant I.
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  Speaker 3: Completely disagree with that comment. He's had access to the
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  Speaker 3: act in Chief Minister on the Territory Controller every day
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  Speaker 3: since Tenant Creek has been in the outbreak. The vaccinating
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  Speaker 3: Tenant Creek right now is eighty three percent first dose
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  Speaker 3: and sixty nine percent fully vaccinator, So we really need
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  Speaker 3: to see that fully backs rate up closer to ninety percent,
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  Speaker 3: but certainly well over eighty percent. And the Barklay more
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  Speaker 3: broadly Katie is fifty percent first dose and thirty eight
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  Speaker 3: percent second dose.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Now, there was some serious concerns raised yesterday by
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: doctor Robert Parker from the AMA. Medical staff in Central
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Australia are worried about the cases and the fact that
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  Speaker 1: clinics in Central Australia are closed.
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  Speaker 2: Take a listen to what he'd told us yesterday on
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  Speaker 2: the show.
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  Speaker 4: I think he's going to put a major pressure of
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  Speaker 4: hospital to try and cope. Said this is this is
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  Speaker 4: information overs from colleagues or obviously very concerned about what's
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: about to happen. There's very little resource outside the hospital,
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  Speaker 4: which means that people who are ready sick are going
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: to end up in the hospital or potentially overwhelming resources.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, that was the information. Because of the clinics
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  Speaker 4: been closed, because of other resources not potentially being available,
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  Speaker 4: it's going to put a lot of pressure on the
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  Speaker 4: hospital to cope, and it's it's likely to be quite major.
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  Speaker 1: Have we got the capacity to deal with further cases
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  Speaker 1: of COVID in Central Australia.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie. We have around eighty remote primary healthcare clinics
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: right across the Northern Territory. Some of these clinics service
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: a small number of people. These are primary health care clinics.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: They provide important primary health care. But what we do
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: see every Christmas January holiday period is people that work
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: in those clinics want to go back to family and friends,
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  Speaker 3: and so staffing those clinics is impacted. Every year. We
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: have got our plans in place around how we can
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: ensure that people at es their medicine that is organized
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: well in advance. And then in terms of COVID, the
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Department's been doing work to make sure that with this
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: unique situation we're in this year, we can still provide
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: vaccine and testing across the Northern Territory.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: So what is the go At the moment those nine
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: clinics closed because there's not the staff there to keep
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: them open.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: So there's eighty clinics across the territory, Katie. Fifty are
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: managed by the MTG, in about thirty by the Aboriginal
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  Speaker 3: Medical organizations. What happens through the Christmas festive period is
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: that we make sure that we visit those clinics a
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: couple of times a week to make sure people have
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: their medicine and they're getting those services. Emergency care is
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: provided by a different system and that is also put in.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Place, so you believe that even if we see further
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: cases in Central Australia, that it's not going to have
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a massive impact on the hospital system and that you've
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: got the capacity there to deal with any of those
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: cases that we end up with.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, a separate question around COVID and how our
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: hospital system will manage If people are highly vaccinated, our
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: health system won't be burdened. Is where we have people
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: not vaccinated that become more critically unwell and we have
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: to care for them. So that's why we need to
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: get those vaccination rates up.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: So how many intensive care beds do you have that
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: could take COVID patients in Alice Springs right now?
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: TEDI, I don't have the exact figures in front of me,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: but in terms of our springs, we have a couple
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: of negative pressure rooms. We would then shift across to
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: having an infectious diseases ward and having COVID award, so
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: we would make sure that COVID and non COVID patients
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: that kept completely separately, and then we would start to
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: put in place those plans that we've been working on
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: for many months now.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: But you must have an idea of how many beds
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: you know you've got that would have ventilators, et cetera
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: if you do have people that become quite unwell.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: So Katie, we've got about one hundred ventilators in the
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Northern Territory. What we would start to see and we've
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: got a COVID outbreak right now, and if we saw
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: people needing hospitalization.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: You need to.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: Remember from the seventy cases arouncastin and the top end,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: we ended up with about five in hospital and too
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: in intensive care. So if we started to see those
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: numbers build, we would close down other parts of the
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: hospital and shift the resources to doing COVID care. And
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: this is all being planned and work through from a
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: clinical perspective many months ago.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: All right, this onmicron variant, I know that it seems
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: to be spreading quite quickly in some of the other states,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: So there seems to be significant case numbers in the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: likes of New South Wales.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Queensland is obviously on high alert as well.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Are you worried about this and we'll just spread in
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: other states?
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: See us lockdown again.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: So Katie, you know it's a new variant, and of
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: course we should be concerned. We were concerned about Delta
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: and how the vaccine would work with it, and that
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: proved to be successful. So we've got no reason to
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: think that Omicron would significantly change our plans. But we're
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: certainly still learning more about the variant, and our NTY
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: health officials are continuing to participate in daily HPPC meetings
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: and interact with other states so we can have that
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: best advice to pair for.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Territory all right?
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: In the National Cabinet? Are they due to meet again today?
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Tadymondus standing?
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Is?
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: I think it's tomorrow Our health ministers we were messaging
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: yesterday and we're going to catch up later today or
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: early tomorrow morning. So there's certainly strong communication between the
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: Commonwealth of States and territories making sure everyone has all
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: the information they need.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Is everyone all on the same page here?
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, is everybody planning to stay opened, but making
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: sure that as many people as possible a vaccinated.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: That's our plan, Katie. We need to move forward. We
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: need to go from a pandemic to an endemic. Vaccine
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: is the key, and it's never too late to get vaccinated.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: And for some listons that may have been apprehensive, we're
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: not going to ask questions if you turn up now
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: for your first dose and some dose is better than none,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: and it does take a couple of weeks for that
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: amenity to build, so it's never too late to get vaccinated.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: But no, our plans are moving forward with vaccination testing
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: regime and other public health measures such as mask wearing.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Well Health Minister Natasha Files, we are going to have
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to leave it there. Thank you very much for your
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: time this morning, but also thank you to making yourself
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: available to us each and every week on the show
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: and also throughout the Week that was. We appreciate it,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: and we know you've been very busy throughout the year,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: as has every health minister around the nation, so we
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: really appreciate the time that you give us each and
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: every week.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie. I feel like I might have lost my
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: spot on the Week that was. It's been a while,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: it has at will see a bit of normality and
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: to you and your team and all your listeners. Thank
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: you for sharing such important information with territori ins and
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: we know sometimes the interviews get a little bit gied up,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: but you know it's all about getting that information out
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: to your listeners, so I wish them all are there
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: and merry safe Quistmas.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much minister, and we will talk
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to you again in the new year.