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Speaker 1: But let's get straight into it because the Health Minister,

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Speaker 1: Natasha Files is on the line.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, minister.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.

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Speaker 2: Minister.

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Speaker 1: Do we know at this point in time this morning

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Speaker 1: if we have any additional COVID cases?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, we don't have any more confirmed positive cases

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Speaker 3: of COVID, but it is very early and that is

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Speaker 3: why we announced a three day lockdown so that we

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Speaker 3: could stop everybody isolate as many territories as possible and

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Speaker 3: work through what the situation is before us.

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Speaker 1: Now, do we have any idea at this point in

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Speaker 1: time exactly how many close contacts there are?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, So we have around three hundred contacts and

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Speaker 3: we believe around sixty five of those people have been

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Speaker 3: identified as close contacts, and we've been in touch with

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Speaker 3: a large majority of those people. And part of the

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Speaker 3: reason why we're in a lockdown is whilst we're getting

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Speaker 3: in touch with those remaining few people, we know that

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Speaker 3: everybody should be in isolation, they should be wearing a

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Speaker 3: mask if they do go out for those essential reasons.

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Speaker 3: So we have been in touch with, as I said,

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Speaker 3: a large number we are organizing their testing. So this

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Speaker 3: is an important message for your listeners. If they believe

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Speaker 3: that there are close or casual contacts, and those sites

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Speaker 3: are listed on the Anti Coronavirus website, they did change

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Speaker 3: yesterday as we were able to do more contact tracing information.

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Speaker 3: So people should keep familiarizing themselves with those sites. But

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Speaker 3: if they believe they are close or casual contacts, they

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Speaker 3: should call the COVID hotline and we will organize testing

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Speaker 3: and we will tell them what to do next. There's

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Speaker 3: no need for them to panic, there's no need for

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Speaker 3: them to leave their home. Just stay safe and we

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Speaker 3: will work with them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right.

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Speaker 1: There is definitely a few more places listed on there,

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Speaker 1: and some of those locations have changed somewhat, so I'll

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Speaker 1: take our listeners through those a little bit later this

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Speaker 1: morning so that they're aware of exactly you know, the

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Speaker 1: locations and also the times Minister in relation to the

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Speaker 1: testing clinic. I understand the Marara testing clinic was stood

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Speaker 1: up this morning at about eight am.

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Speaker 2: Has it been very busy out there yet so.

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Speaker 3: Katie, I've just come from the Marara testing site. We

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Speaker 3: are trialing or put in place a new system. Previously

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Speaker 3: you had to book what we have done this time

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Speaker 3: is you don't have to make a booking, but we

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Speaker 3: urge people not to just get tested for the sake

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Speaker 3: of it. It's not for the worried. Well. It is

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Speaker 3: only for people who've been deemed a close or casual

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Speaker 3: contact or if you have blue cold like symptoms those

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Speaker 3: COVID system symptoms. Sorry, it has been very calm out

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Speaker 3: there this morning, but people should be prepared. If they

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Speaker 3: are feeling symptomatic and they had out to get tested,

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Speaker 3: they may have to wait and they should be prepared

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Speaker 3: for that.

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Speaker 1: Now, what about Catherine, because obviously Catherine's never been in

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Speaker 1: this situation before. Do they actually have a testing clinic?

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Speaker 1: And what is the situation for our listeners in Catherine

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Speaker 1: who may be concerned that they're either close or casual contacts.

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Speaker 3: So the Catherine region is also in lockdown as we know,

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Speaker 3: and you have listeners there. We're doing two things. We've

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Speaker 3: stood up extra testing resources and we have also provided

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Speaker 3: additional vaccine. So there's a pop up vaccine clinic which

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Speaker 3: will open. People do need to make bookings for the

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Speaker 3: vaccine clinic, but not to be tested. So important information

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Speaker 3: for Catherine residents.

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Speaker 1: So has sorry, so has that testing clinics, so it's

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Speaker 1: not open jen or it is about to be stood up.

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Speaker 3: Sorry. Testing additional testing resources have been stood up in

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Speaker 3: cast and they were stood up and with the Catherine

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Speaker 3: situation because we know the individual is infectious, we believe

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Speaker 3: in the community Sunday afternoon, the testing is important from

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Speaker 3: today because it is that incubation period and so someone

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Speaker 3: might have got tested yesterday and that would be a

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Speaker 3: false negative test and so that's why the testing for

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Speaker 3: Catherine is really important from today. So there's extra testing

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Speaker 3: going into Catherine and extra vaccine.

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Speaker 1: And Minister, are you testing the wastewater well both in

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Speaker 1: Darwin and also in Catherine and has there been any

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Speaker 1: results so far?

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Speaker 3: Will continue. We need to test the wastewater in Darwin

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Speaker 3: and we have added Catherine wastewater. We won't have those results,

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Speaker 3: I understand from our Chief Health Office un til later

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Speaker 3: in the week, but they're important as a part of

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Speaker 3: the surveillance. So right now people just need to stay

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Speaker 3: at home as much as possible to remove those interactions

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Speaker 3: because we don't want them to later on find out

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Speaker 3: that they are infectious or we're a close contact. To

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Speaker 3: stay at home if you are symptomatic or a contact

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Speaker 3: get tested. Now it's the chance to get vaccinated Katie.

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Speaker 3: As I said, additional appointments for Darwin and Catherine and

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Speaker 3: we will be doing that surveillance wastewater testing that those

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Speaker 3: results will come through later in the week.

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Speaker 1: Now when are we expecting the update from the Chief

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Speaker 1: Minister and the Chief Health Officer today?

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Speaker 3: So later in the day, Katie, after I speak with you,

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Speaker 3: we'll head into another SEMSI that sub Emergency Cabinet group

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Speaker 3: and we'll be updated fully on all the information from Health.

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Speaker 3: But it's very early on in this lockdown we had.

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Speaker 3: Health did an amazing job over the last twenty four hours.

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Speaker 3: They had three thousand calls to that COVID hotline and

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Speaker 3: they were able to return pretty much all of those

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Speaker 3: calls except for a couple. So if you do need

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Speaker 3: to ring the hotline, just leave your callback details, remain patient.

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Speaker 3: It's open twenty four hours. So that's the clear message.

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Speaker 3: If we can just have patients from Territorians please.

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Speaker 1: Now, we saw yesterday morning, you know, the rumor mills

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Speaker 1: started to run rife. I guess you'd say quite early on,

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Speaker 1: and we saw a lot of Territorians heading out to

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Speaker 1: those various supermarkets. They seem to be aware that we

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Speaker 1: were looking like we were heading into a lockdown sooner

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Speaker 1: than the official word came out. But why was there

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Speaker 1: not more warning time? You know, why did that official

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Speaker 1: announcement not happen until sort of ten thirty and then

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Speaker 1: we're going into lockdown at midday.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, we don't want people to suddenly when they

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Speaker 3: hear that a lockdown's coming, run out and do everything.

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Speaker 3: The whole point of a lockdown is to make it quickly,

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Speaker 3: to make sure that people are minimizing the interactions with

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Speaker 3: other people. There's no need to panic. Willis is still open,

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Speaker 3: you can still go to the chemist, you know, all

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Speaker 3: those essential you can still access. And so we certainly

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Speaker 3: did see a number of rumors and messages. We were

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Speaker 3: in that cabinet meeting with our health officials and the

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Speaker 3: territory Controller, and then the Chief Minister stepped out within

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Speaker 3: half an hour or less of that being finalized. So

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Speaker 3: it doesn't in terms of territorians, we want to restrict

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Speaker 3: those interactions and people don't need to worry that they

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Speaker 3: might not be able to access something. Those essential goods

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Speaker 3: and services.

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Speaker 1: Are still available now, We asked the Chief Minister yesterday

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Speaker 1: on the show whether the individual who obviously has traveled

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Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory and willingly carried with him COVID,

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Speaker 1: whether he had been vaccinated. The Chief Minister had said

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Speaker 1: that was the one thing that he hadn't been open

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Speaker 1: and cooperative about. Do we have any idea now this

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Speaker 1: morning if this individual was vaccinated or.

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Speaker 3: Not, So, Katie, I don't have further information, and as

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Speaker 3: I said, we'll be going into further briefings after I

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Speaker 3: speak with you. We do need to respect the privacy

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Speaker 3: of this individual. So this is these are difficult when

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Speaker 3: you talk about COVID cases. I remember earlier on we

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Speaker 3: have to provide a level of information to share with

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Speaker 3: the community. But you know, it's no different to someone

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Speaker 3: being diagnosed with the floor or and other illness, and

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Speaker 3: so we'll continue to work with the individual around as

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Speaker 3: much information. But the important information is the contacts and

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Speaker 3: those close and casual contacts, which you'll listed on our website,

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Speaker 3: and anyone else that's symptomatic or feeling unwell should get

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Speaker 3: a test.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 1: There's a few people messaging through about the impact on business,

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Speaker 1: so I do want to ask you firstly, though, The

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Speaker 1: Notts Crossing owner, Ian Pace has told the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: News that he understood the pandemic was an ever changing

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Speaker 1: situation for health authorities, but questioned why the man was

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Speaker 1: allowed to leave Darwin. He's told the paper, why was

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Speaker 1: a person who had a test allowed to leave and

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Speaker 1: go out in the community. He went on to say,

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Speaker 1: when was the result known and why didn't anyone recall him?

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Speaker 1: How did this happen or why did this happen? Do

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Speaker 1: you think that it is appropriate that he was able

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Speaker 1: to travel?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, when travelers exit hotel quarantine, they do so

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Speaker 3: with the negative test, and this individual has followed all

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Speaker 3: the rules. Here in the territory. We have what's called

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Speaker 3: a day seventeen test, so three days after any quarantine,

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Speaker 3: an individual has to take another tests. We don't have

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Speaker 3: the clinical grounds to detain them, but it does provide

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Speaker 3: us with additional information. So this individual was tested around

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Speaker 3: nine am on Sunday morning. We had that preliminary result

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Speaker 3: and it was worked through the Sunday night. If we

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Speaker 3: hadn't done that day seventeen test, we wouldn't be aware

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Speaker 3: that this person is infectious. I understand their asymptomatic, so

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Speaker 3: they wouldn't have had any symptoms and they would be

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Speaker 3: potentially moving further around our community. So I can understand

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Speaker 3: the frustration where people say, but we don't have that

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Speaker 3: ability to detain someone longer than the fourteen days mandatory quarantine.

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Speaker 1: Well, do we maybe need to look at changing it

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Speaker 1: because the reality is now that you know we've got

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Speaker 1: well thousands of thousands of Territorians in lockdown, business is closed.

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Speaker 2: Do we maybe need.

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Speaker 1: To take a look at doing things differently if we

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Speaker 1: are talking about those international arrivals and like you said,

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Speaker 1: it was a positive case from that day seventeen test.

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Speaker 1: But now as we're saying the territory, well, certainly Darwin

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Speaker 1: and Catherine are in lockdown as a result. So do

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Speaker 1: we as a state need to look at things a

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Speaker 1: bit differently?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, we can't lock people up who have tested negative,

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Speaker 3: and this individual had tested negative two days earlier. So

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Speaker 3: but what we can do is that extra testing, and

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Speaker 3: without that extra testing, we wouldn't have caught this case,

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Speaker 3: and as I just mentioned, you know, potentially would have

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Speaker 3: been moving about our community. So it is difficult, but

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Speaker 3: we can't detain people unnecessarily unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: But with those international arrivals, do we maybe need to

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Speaker 1: look at extending that quarantine time, does it maybe need

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Speaker 1: to be longer than fourteen days? Or are we thinking

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Speaker 1: with this case you know that he's picked it up

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Speaker 1: at the airport, or you know, what are we thinking

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Speaker 1: and how can we do things differently so we minimize

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Speaker 1: the risk of going through this again.

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Speaker 3: So Katie, of course, with any incident there's a review

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Speaker 3: and we certainly would put in place any health measures.

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Speaker 3: But positive case two days earlier had returned negative. Of course,

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Speaker 3: you know, I have sympathy for territories, particularly business owners.

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Speaker 3: But the man at the center of this, he didn't

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Speaker 3: breach any COVID directions and he's seen nothing but cooperative

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Speaker 3: and compliant from our perspective. So this is COVID. It

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Speaker 3: is this new delta strain. But as I said, he

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Speaker 3: had tested negative. We're now working through exactly where he

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Speaker 3: has picked this virus up from. Was that you know,

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Speaker 3: clearly it looks like it was at some point before

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Speaker 3: he arrived into the territory, and we're working through that

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Speaker 3: with our health officials.

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Speaker 1: So we still don't know exactly how the person got infected.

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Speaker 3: No, so that's what's being worked through. His test has

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Speaker 3: been sent into State for that genomic sequencing and to verify.

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Speaker 3: We're treating it as the highly contagious delta strain, but

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Speaker 3: we're sent that away for that further testing.

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Speaker 1: Now, is there any update at the moment on the

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Speaker 1: capacity at Royal Darwin Hospital because we know that there

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Speaker 1: was obviously that recent code yellow, So is there any

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Speaker 1: update on the capacity there given the fact that now

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Speaker 1: we have the situation that in when it comes to COVID.

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Speaker 3: So I think there's two parts, Katie. If we were

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Speaker 3: to start to see spread of COVID within our community

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Speaker 3: and we started to see people needing hospital care, we

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Speaker 3: would enact a number of contingency plans that we have

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Speaker 3: in place, and of course you know the steps before

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Speaker 3: that are happening at Royal Zowon and Palmerston Hospital in

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Speaker 3: case we do see people start to become unwealth. In

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Speaker 3: terms of the hospital, it is extremely busy, Katie. I

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Speaker 3: have checked in it again with Health and it's mainly

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Speaker 3: around mental health patients and as we know, we've put

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Speaker 3: in a significant investment and there's things happening in that space.

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Speaker 3: People should not go and seek medical you know, they

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Speaker 3: shouldn't avoid going and seeking medical care if they're unwell.

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Speaker 3: But we do ask Territorians to think about if you're unwell,

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Speaker 3: can you perhaps you know, use a Health Direct telephone?

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Speaker 3: Can you reach out to your GP. GP services are

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Speaker 3: available as our emergency dental surgery. So we do ask

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Speaker 3: people as always to be considerate around why they perhaps

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Speaker 3: would attend emergency.

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Speaker 1: All right, we did have a well else work at

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Speaker 1: get in contact with us yesterday and say that there

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Speaker 1: is still quite a strain on the system at Royal

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Speaker 1: Dale and Hospital over the weekend. Are we close to

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Speaker 1: being on that code yellow line again?

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Speaker 3: So code yellow what that does is an act to

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Speaker 3: number of systems within the hospital and we had a

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Speaker 3: peak demand in the days leading up to that code

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Speaker 3: yellow being called. As I just said, the hospital is

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Speaker 3: extremely busy. It's one of the busiest hospitals and in

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Speaker 3: the magency departments in the country. We're putting in place

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Speaker 3: longer term plans around how we can reduce particularly around

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Speaker 3: that mental health, providing better care to the most vulnerable

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Speaker 3: in our community and also easing those pressures within our hospital.

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Speaker 2: So are we back there again?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, we're not at a code yellow. We'd be

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Speaker 3: very upfront and put out a media statement if we

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Speaker 3: did have code yellow. But yes, the hospital is very busy.

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Speaker 3: The hospital has been busy for a considerable period and

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Speaker 3: there's a broad range of reasons why the hospital is

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Speaker 3: so busy, and we keep working to make sure that

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Speaker 3: we can reduce that pressure, and we acknowledge the work

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Speaker 3: of our health staff well.

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Speaker 2: And I know the mental health speeds.

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Speaker 1: It's something that you and I have spoken about previously,

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Speaker 1: so we might actually catch up with you at another

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Speaker 1: time on that and just get a bit of an

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Speaker 1: update in that space. But are you able to tell

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Speaker 1: us is the renal ward at Palmerston Hospital operational again?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, that was about ten days ago that we

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Speaker 3: had the incident at the renal ward which required patients

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Speaker 3: to receive care. I understand at the time they advised

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Speaker 3: me it would be about two weeks to have those

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Speaker 3: issues rectified before we could deliver renal services back at

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Speaker 3: Palmerston And so those people are being cared for across

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Speaker 3: our other facilities in the top end and when those

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Speaker 3: rexiplications are made they can resume services at Palmston Regional Hospital.

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Speaker 1: So it sounds as though that would obviously isn't operating

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Speaker 1: at the moment.

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Speaker 3: I haven't had an update within the last couple of days,

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Speaker 3: but my understanding is that we should see that come

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Speaker 3: back online towards the end of this week, and I'm

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Speaker 3: happy to seek further information.

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Speaker 1: I mean, are you concerned at the moment, like you said,

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Speaker 1: obviously we are.

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Speaker 2: You know, we are all in lockdown.

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Speaker 1: We thankfully at this point in time, seem to have

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Speaker 1: things under control with that lockdown when it comes to COVID.

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Speaker 2: But is it a bit of a worry.

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Speaker 1: There seems to be quite a strain by the sounds

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Speaker 1: of it on Royal dal And Hospital. We've also got

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Speaker 1: a ward that's not operational at the moment at the

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Speaker 1: Palmerston Hospital. If we were to see things zamp up

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Speaker 1: when it comes to COVID, would that be a worry

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Speaker 1: for you?

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Speaker 3: Territories should be reassured if we were to see community

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Speaker 3: transmission people become unwell and meet hospital care. We've got

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Speaker 3: a number of contingency plans across Rodalen and Palmerston Hospital

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Speaker 3: that we would enact to make sure that they received

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Speaker 3: the medical care that they required, and these Katie would

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Speaker 3: be contingency plans that would deal with a small number

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Speaker 3: of cases meeting hospitalization right through two significant numbers receiving hospitalization,

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Speaker 3: and we would deploy additional resources such as a national

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Speaker 3: Critical care and Trauma Response Center. So we went through

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Speaker 3: all of this last March April when we first saw

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Speaker 3: the virus arrive in Australia, and those plans are being

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Speaker 3: continued to worry through in the time period since.

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Speaker 2: Minister.

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Speaker 1: I've just had a message come through from one of

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Speaker 1: our listeners, big A from Palmi here, and it says

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Speaker 1: I had a day seventeen test at Royal d And Hospital,

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Speaker 1: the COVID clinic and was given a medical certificate and

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Speaker 1: told to isolate at home until it came back negatives.

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Speaker 1: Is the Minister on the same page as the clinic managers.

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Speaker 3: So Katie, my nunderstanding with the day seventeen tests is

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Speaker 3: it's an asymptomatic test. So this is something that our

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Speaker 3: healthcare workers also have, and so it means that they

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Speaker 3: it's a surveillance test, they get tested, they can go

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Speaker 3: about their business because we largely expect that test to

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Speaker 3: come back negative and we've got no reason to believe

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Speaker 3: that they are COVID positives and then if it does

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Speaker 3: come back positive that they obviously those plans are stood

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Speaker 3: up around a confirmed case. So my understanding is that

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Speaker 3: it's an asymptomatic test where they don't have to isolate.

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Speaker 3: It's a precautionary step, all.

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Speaker 2: Right, Minister.

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Speaker 1: One last question and it's from a listener and it says,

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Speaker 1: so is the minister saying it's okay to detain whole

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Speaker 1: territory by lockdown rather than one high risk individual.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, these are really difficult times that we're in.

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Speaker 3: We're trying to balance, you know, COVID. We're reacting to

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Speaker 3: the latest health advice that we've got. If we hadn't

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Speaker 3: done this day seventeen test, this individual would potentially be

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Speaker 3: moving about our community for a number of days, and

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Speaker 3: we wouldn't just have you know, a number of close

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Speaker 3: and casual contact sites which potentially have hundreds. So it's

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Speaker 3: an added step to protecting our community. As I said,

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Speaker 3: we'll always review once something's happened. We always look to

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Speaker 3: the latest health advice in making these decisions. But it

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Speaker 3: is a difficult balance between making sure that we're practical

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Speaker 3: but also protecting our community.

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Speaker 1: All right, Minister for Hell's Natasha Files. We always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time. Thank you so much for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us this morning.

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Speaker 3: Speak seeing Katie than Thank you