DAVID CAMPBELL:
Now, as the first cases of Omicron touchdown in Australia, our top doctors are working around the clock to learn more about the new strain and whether it's resistant to vaccines.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
For more on this we're joined by Australia's Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly from Canberra. Thank you so much for your time. There is a growing sense of panic, isn't there, around this variant this morning. Is that warranted?
PAUL KELLY:
Good morning, Sylvia, David and viewers. So no, it's not warranted to have panic at this stage. We're very much alert to this, the WHO has called it a variant of concern because it's a different configuration of the same virus. This is still the SARS-CoV-2 virus that we've been working with through multiple variations for the last two years. This is the latest one. What do we know- why are we concerned? Three potential reasons. It could be- is it tran- and three specific questions that are not yet answered fully. One is, does it transmit between people, and if so, how infectious is it? We know that it does transmit. It seems to be at least as infectious as the Delta virus. So we do know it will spread, it is spreading through Southern Africa quite rapidly. Second of all, is it more- does it lead to more severe illness? We don't know that yet and there is conflicting reports about that. The two cases that we've had in Australia so far, it's only two, but they've been asymptomatic, that was the same in the cases reported from Hong Kong and the reports we're hearing from Europe. But in South Africa, they are seeing hospitalisations. So that's an open question. And the third thing is will the vaccines and treatment still work? At the moment, we have no evidence that there is a problem with either vaccines or treatments. But that's a matter for very intense research right now and we will look for further information in coming days and weeks.
DAVID CAMPBELL:
Well as you said, there are two cases in Sydney. There may be a possible third case in Melbourne, we're yet to find out, though. So is it time to ramp up quarantine arrangements for all international arrivals like what's happening in South Australia, for instance?
PAUL KELLY:
So, we know we've had different views on that across Australia. We've had three jurisdictions - New South Wales, ACT and Victoria - which moved to a quarantine-free stance on the 1 November. And so they're the ones we'll of- concentrate on really because the other states have already got strict quarantine for all arrivals. So that hasn't been a change for them really. For the other states, so all three- two states and the ACT made that decision to, at least for this 72-hour period since Saturday, to ask people to go into isolation at home or more strict than that compared- depending on where they have come from. So that's the current settings. That's very similar to most of the rest of the world. In the UK they've done basically that same thing, but concentrating very much on people from southern Africa. Same in European countries, same in the US, Canada, et cetera. So Israel, for example, have gone harder. I spoke to a close colleague in the Ministry of Health yesterday in Israel, and they've got their own domestic reasons for doing that, and that's their decision. But I'll continue to advise the government in relation to the risk and have that balanced approach.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
It's likely we're going to see more cases of Omicron confirmed in the coming days, given 260 people were on the flight that carried the two positive cases. They were free in the community for a period of time after touching down in Sydney. With that in mind, what needs to happen domestically with borders? Queensland's likely to open potentially next week at 80 per cent. Is that still safe?
PAUL KELLY:
Look, the domestic borders are a matter for the states to decide on. And there's very active discussion at the Australian Health Protection Committee that I chair. We've met every day, we'll continue to meet every day this week and every day of the weekend. So- but that's a matter for them. Clearly when new information comes, we have to take that into account. This is new information. It's a new variant of concern, but as I said, how real that concern is remains to be seen. There's been 13 variants of concern and most of those have at the start been very worrying, but most of them, other than Delta, Alpha and this one- well, Delta and Alpha, this one is still to be seen, have become less concerning over time. They've either been less transmissible or less severe, or early reports that there was problems with the vaccines weren't actually warranted. So we're in that information-gathering phase.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
You must have some thoughts though on whether it is safe for Queensland to open at 80 per cent next week.
PAUL KELLY:
So, that's a matter for Queensland. I'm not going to speculate on what the Queensland Government may decide in relation to that.
DAVID CAMPBELL:
We just heard from Dr Nick Coatsworth before. He was saying that, look, let's say Omicron isn't as strong a strain as Delta is, in fact, it has very, very mild symptoms, maybe we should just let it go through the community, that it actually might be a good thing. What are your thoughts on that?
PAUL KELLY:
Well, okay, if I was to have a wish list for Christmas, having a- and this is very much an evolutionary biology theoretical process, but if I was to have a wish-list for Christmas, I would want a variant of SARS-CoV-2 which was highly transmissible and would replace other versions of the disease as is happening in South Africa, which is at least to a more mild human disease. If that was the case, then that would be a very good Christmas present. But we do not know that yet for sure. And I think it's very much we need to have a precautionary approach now until we get that information.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
So Omicron may be the gift we never knew we wanted. Before we let you go though, how long is it going to take for us to gather sufficient data on Omicron and what it's capable of doing to people?
PAUL KELLY:
So, the- I mean, if there is an advantage of having cases in Australia that we'll- as we did very early on you may recall in 2020, have locally grown virus in our own laboratories which we can then do our own tests and very rapidly get that information. Similarly, the rest of the world - and we're closely linked to our colleagues in many countries - that sort of information will be gathered over the next- over this week, I would say, probably on the next couple of weeks in relation to laboratory testing of vaccine effectiveness, for example. Some of the other things about like severity and real world vaccine effectiveness, that's going to take much longer and so there's still a lot to learn about this virus. We've only known about it really internationally since late last week. So, things are rapidly changing.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
It is early days, isn't it? Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much.
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