1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,440
Speaker 1: We do know that just a couple of weeks ago,

2
00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:06,720
Speaker 1: we'd spoken about the incidents of flu and the high

3
00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,080
Speaker 1: volume that we are seeing in the Northern Territory at

4
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:12,360
Speaker 1: the moment. At the time, it was around one thousand

5
00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,720
Speaker 1: flu cases across the territory, about half of those in

6
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,160
Speaker 1: Alice and the other in the top end.

7
00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,439
Speaker 2: But joining me on the line right now.

8
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 1: To talk a little bit more about the situation that

9
00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,480
Speaker 1: we're seeing over the last couple of days is Dr

10
00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:30,320
Speaker 1: Jacqueline Murdoch, the Depputy Chief Health Officer with Northern Territory Health.

11
00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Doctor Murdoch.

12
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,599
Speaker 3: Thank good morning, Katie, Thanks for having me.

13
00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,720
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

14
00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,760
Speaker 1: As I said, about a week or so ago we

15
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,199
Speaker 1: spoke about the incidents of flu in the territory. I

16
00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,879
Speaker 1: think those numbers were around about one thousand, but I

17
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: understand that they have well and truly gone up in

18
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:49,880
Speaker 1: recent days.

19
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, they have, and we've got now more than two

20
00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,120
Speaker 3: and a half thousand chases of flu in the Northern

21
00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,920
Speaker 3: Territory this season, which is really starting to be a

22
00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,040
Speaker 3: record season for us this year, and that's off the

23
00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,760
Speaker 3: back of really low numbers last year. And the year before,

24
00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,080
Speaker 3: because during the pandemic we had closed borders, so we

25
00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,120
Speaker 3: didn't have many people coming in bringing the flu, and

26
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,640
Speaker 3: we obviously had lots of other measures like personal hygiene measures,

27
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,280
Speaker 3: social distancing, mask wearing and that sort of stuff. So

28
00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,000
Speaker 3: the flus really come on with a vengeance this year.

29
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:30,320
Speaker 3: And yeah, as I say, I've got over two and

30
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,080
Speaker 3: a half thousand cases.

31
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,520
Speaker 1: So far, and I'm assuming that they're just the cases

32
00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,360
Speaker 1: that have maybe needed to be tested for whatever reason.

33
00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, So it's likely much higher than that

34
00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,000
Speaker 3: because lots of people were, you know, just doing the

35
00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,480
Speaker 3: right thing and staying home until they're better and perhaps

36
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:58,920
Speaker 3: don't need to get tested. So it's probably quite an underestimate,

37
00:01:59,160 --> 00:01:59,920
Speaker 3: I would agree.

38
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Jack Lond, do we have any idea how

39
00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,600
Speaker 1: many of those cases are in the top end and

40
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,320
Speaker 1: how many are in Central Australia.

41
00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:13,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Central Australia started earlier, so they started seeing

42
00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:18,079
Speaker 3: flu earlier, especially with their cold or weather. So they've

43
00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,960
Speaker 3: got sort of over six hundred cases. Now top end

44
00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,480
Speaker 3: is sort of over getting up to over twelve hundred,

45
00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:27,680
Speaker 3: and the cases in the top end are really starting

46
00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:28,880
Speaker 3: to take off at the moment.

47
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,040
Speaker 2: Well, it's not fun.

48
00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,960
Speaker 1: I'm sure that it can actually be quite severe illness

49
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,480
Speaker 1: as well for a lot of Territorians. Have we seen

50
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: a number of people hospitalized as a result of the flu.

51
00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, so we have. It can really knock

52
00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,400
Speaker 3: you around, can make you very sick, put you in

53
00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,040
Speaker 3: bed for a week or two, even if you're you know,

54
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,880
Speaker 3: otherwise healthy, And we've seen we have seen a number

55
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:02,240
Speaker 3: of people hospitalized so far. So we've got about twenty

56
00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,600
Speaker 3: people in hospital in the NT with flu at the moment,

57
00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:10,880
Speaker 3: and that number is increasing. So we're really encouraging people

58
00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,440
Speaker 3: to get their flu vaccine because that's that's the best

59
00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,400
Speaker 3: way of protecting yourself. It'll give you about fifty to

60
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:24,000
Speaker 3: sixty percent protection from getting really sick and needing to

61
00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:24,760
Speaker 3: go to hospital.

62
00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 1: Well, I'm booked in for mine at about one forty today,

63
00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:30,919
Speaker 1: so I'll be going to get mine. I'm not sure

64
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,720
Speaker 1: whether the horse already bolted in my household though, because

65
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,440
Speaker 1: everybody had been pretty crook over the last couple of weeks,

66
00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,160
Speaker 1: and there does just seem to be a lot of

67
00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:41,880
Speaker 1: people that aren't.

68
00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,560
Speaker 2: That aren't well around the place at the moment.

69
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:51,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's absolutely right. And look, we'd especially encourage people

70
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,040
Speaker 3: who are eligible for the free flu vaccine to come

71
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,360
Speaker 3: forward for their vaccine. And so that's people over sixty five,

72
00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:05,040
Speaker 3: kids under five, all aboriginal people, and anyone with a

73
00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:09,600
Speaker 3: chronic medical condition, and anyone who's pregnant. But we'd really

74
00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:14,800
Speaker 3: like to say for kids under five, they really need

75
00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:16,599
Speaker 3: to get the flu vaccine this year because lots of

76
00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,640
Speaker 3: those kids have never seen flu circulating before they were

77
00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:25,960
Speaker 3: born after the borders closed, and so their bodies haven't

78
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,880
Speaker 3: seen that flu circulating, so they're really vulnerable to severe effects.

79
00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 3: And we do know that flu can make little kids

80
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,480
Speaker 3: really sick, so those kids really need to get their

81
00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,160
Speaker 3: flu vaccine as soon as possible.

82
00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, good advice. And are there different things that we

83
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,160
Speaker 1: can do as well? You know, if we do feel

84
00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,200
Speaker 1: unwell or if we are concerned that we have the flu,

85
00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,279
Speaker 1: do we need to go and get tested or is

86
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,200
Speaker 1: it just a matter of you know, staying home, looking

87
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,320
Speaker 1: after yourself and making sure you don't spread it.

88
00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean so it depends really the messages, Yes,

89
00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,760
Speaker 3: stay home, look after yourself. You know, lots of fluid

90
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,840
Speaker 3: sleep and panetol usually helps hand hygiene to make sure

91
00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,200
Speaker 3: you're not spreading it. Mask if you do need to

92
00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:13,520
Speaker 3: leave the house. All those things that you know, we've

93
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,120
Speaker 3: encouraged with COVID work with flu as well. If you

94
00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,640
Speaker 3: if you've got underlying medical conditions or you're at risk

95
00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,440
Speaker 3: of getting sick. So some of those age you know,

96
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,400
Speaker 3: categories that we talked about before. You know, if you're concerned,

97
00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:34,800
Speaker 3: definitely see your GP to to see to see if

98
00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,120
Speaker 3: you need to get tested. But as a whole, you

99
00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:40,840
Speaker 3: don't need to get tested unless you think you're you're

100
00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:42,159
Speaker 3: at risk of getting really sick.

101
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,600
Speaker 2: And Jacqueline, I guess it's early days.

102
00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,080
Speaker 1: You know, we don't know sort of how many cases

103
00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,200
Speaker 1: we're going to see around the Northern Territory over the

104
00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,800
Speaker 1: cooler well, we haven't had much of a dry season yet,

105
00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:58,200
Speaker 1: but over those drier months, with the numbers so high

106
00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,239
Speaker 1: at the moment, are you anticipating that they are going

107
00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:02,599
Speaker 1: to sort of continue to grow.

108
00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, what we know from flu seasons is they

109
00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,160
Speaker 3: can take sort of eight to ten weeks and we're

110
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 3: really especially the top end, just at the start of that,

111
00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,839
Speaker 3: so we do expect that the numbers will continue to grow. Yeah,

112
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,120
Speaker 3: so only one in five territories have had their flu

113
00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,120
Speaker 3: vaccine so far, so we really want those numbers to

114
00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:26,600
Speaker 3: go up.

115
00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:27,480
Speaker 2: Yeah.

116
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:32,120
Speaker 1: Well, doctor Jacqueline Murdock, the Deputy Chief Health Officer within Health,

117
00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,600
Speaker 1: We really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much

118
00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:35,479
Speaker 1: for having a chat with me.

119
00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:38,040
Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.