SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE:
Alright. More now on this morning's breaking news - a Melbourne quarantine hotel is being evacuated due to water damage on four of the building's eight floors after a sprinkler system malfunctioned over the weekend.
DAVID KOCH:
Staff and 31 residents from the Holiday Inn on Flinders Street, which is a hot hotel, with positive COVID-19 cases, will be transferred to the Pullman Albert Park. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd joins us now.
Michael, good to see you again. Every resident has COVID, so how complex will it be to safely them?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Well, fortunately, the authorities in Victoria are used to moving people around with COVID, or at risk of having COVID-19, so that- I'm sure those measures will sweep into play and move people safely and securely across to their new accommodation.
SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE:
So, Michael, what are the logistics? Are you across the logistics of this? I mean, how do you- do they bus people to Albert Park? How do they get them there? One of our epidemiologists said they may walk them; would that happen?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Look, I'm not across the logistics, so I'm not sure how far it is from the hotel where they're based to the hotel that they're travelling to.
DAVID KOCH:
Okay. It's a fair way if it's Albert Park. That's a long walk.
SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE:
Yeah, with COVID.
DAVID KOCH:
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly right. Look, this may not be directly related to COVID-19, but it's another issue in the quarantine system. Are there any concerns from a federal perspective, these plans today to have camps near airports? Is that a goer, do you think?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Look, obviously the AHPPC hasn't discussed that particular issue, it's only been raised overnight. The AHPPC, though, is looking very closely at each of our meetings, at ways that we can continually improve the quality of the quarantine arrangements, and make sure that we are learning from what's happening, both in Australia and overseas, in order to keep both the guests in those hotels, but also the people who are working in those facilities and their families safe.
SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE:
Okay. Let's talk about Victoria's lockdown. I guess, we're all hoping that that will end tomorrow night, Wednesday night. From a health perspective, was it necessary to shut down an entire state when there are just a few COVID cases in Melbourne?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Well, obviously, that decision was a decision for the Victorian Government, but we have seen 17 cases of COVID-19 linked to that outbreak, which occurred at the Tullamarine Holiday Inn. We did see people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, who'd been to a number of other locations, and including of course, of concern, Terminal 4 at the airport, with the potential risk of airport, with the potential risk of very large numbers of people having being exposed to someone with COVID-19.
DAVID KOCH:
Great news on the vaccine front. The Pfizer shots arrived yesterday. As Greg Hunt said, the eagle had landed - very dramatic. Next step is for the TGA to undertake final testing. How long does that take?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Yes. So yesterday, obviously a very exciting day in the fight against COVID-19. The TGA process takes approximately a week, where they test the batch of vaccine which has arrived in Australia, they make sure that there has been no breach of the cold chain. As you know, this vaccine has to be kept at very low temperatures consistently in order to retain its efficacy. Also, making sure that there's been no tampering of the vaccine containers while they've been shipped across. Once that process of making sure that we have doses of vaccine, which is going to be safe and effective for use in the population in our country, those doses will start moving out. They'll be going, as you've said, to the major hubs in each of the states and territories to vaccinate, initially, front-line healthcare workers, frontline quarantine workers and border workers and also, there'll be doses going out through the Commonwealth program to residential aged care facilities and disability care facilities to vaccinate residents and workers right across the country.
SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE:
Okay. That's a big week for the TGA. Michael Kidd, thank you. We appreciate your time.
MICHAEL KIDD:
Thank you.
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