DAVID KOCH:
Let's get more on the coronavirus now. Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, joins me now. Michael, good to see you again. What do you say to people still going to work despite testing positive for coronavirus?
PROFESSOR MICHAEL KIDD:
Look, Kochie, that's absolutely unacceptable. If people are diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus, they are required to be in strict isolation at home and there are no exceptions. So people must not go to work, they must not leave their homes, they must be in isolation.
DAVID KOCH:
Yep. Don't be a hero. And were you shocked at Melbourne's figures yesterday? Fourth week into a lockdown, meant to be flattening the curve. Are they doing enough?
PROFESSOR MICHAEL KIDD:
Look, I think that everybody when we saw those figures flash up on the TV screens yesterday your heart jumped and did feel very, very concerned at what we're seeing. We have to remember of course that one day's figures we can't look on their own, what we need to look at is the trend, and of course we are seeing a continuing upward trend in the numbers of new infections being diagnosed in Victoria. It is now only just 1 week since the requirement that everyone in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire wear masks was brought in. And as we saw yesterday from the Premier, additional measures have been put in place right across the state to tackle this outbreak.
DAVID KOCH:
What about the rest of Australia? I must admit it does worry me when sort of a big corporate in Australia starts recommending people to wear masks – I'd rather get the information from you than a corporation. Should people in New South Wales be taking a hard line approach with wearing masks?
PROFESSOR MICHAEL KIDD:
Well I think, as we've seen in Victoria, we can go from almost no transmission in the community to a very serious outbreak in just a matter of weeks. And we do have some community transmission occurring in New South Wales, the authorities there are doing a great job in bringing that under control. We have seen of course yesterday community transmission also occurring in Brisbane for the first time in some time. So these are concerning events. Each, each business in Australia is required to have its own COVID safe plan on how does it protect its staff and its customers. In this case, the people who are attending supermarkets. So …
DAVID KOCH:
Yep. Okay. So Woolworths, you're agreeing with them, can impose that. Look, just on this Flinders University program for its COVAXX vaccine – we had them on earlier. They need $10 million to fast track it. They've had great results so far. Do you hand out the money?
PROFESSOR MICHAEL KIDD:
I don't hand out the money actually. I'm a former dean at Flinders University, so I'm probably not the right person to ask about that. But what I do know is that the Australian Government is working with a number of vaccine manufacturers in– and developers in Australia and around the world to ensure that all is being done to bring around a vaccine solution to COVID-19.
DAVID KOCH:
Okay. All right. We'll continue our chase for it. Thank you for that.
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