1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,560
Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday,

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:08,520
Speaker 1: the fourteenth of December, International Monkey Day. It is Peter

3
00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,240
Speaker 1: Jackson actually decided to release King Kong on this day.

4
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,000
Speaker 1: It's a special day for monkey lovers around the world. Zara,

5
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,599
Speaker 1: what's making news on this sunny Tuesday.

6
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,360
Speaker 2: We are going to foreign affairs first, and Australia has

7
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,360
Speaker 2: signed a one billion dollar defense contract with South Korea

8
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,440
Speaker 2: after leaders from the two nations held formal talks in Canberra.

9
00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,239
Speaker 2: Defense Minister Peter Dudden said on the deal, it's one

10
00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,120
Speaker 2: of the several projects that will modernize the Australian Army,

11
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,080
Speaker 2: ensuring it continues to maintain a capability advantage now and

12
00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:41,920
Speaker 2: into the future.

13
00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,159
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, looking more domestically, and Health Minister Greg Hunt has

14
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,680
Speaker 1: confirmed that Australia is on track to welcome fully vaccinated

15
00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,360
Speaker 1: visa holders tomorrow despite the spread of the omicron variant.

16
00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,840
Speaker 1: The easing of international borders will allow international students, skilled migrants,

17
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 1: humanitarian working holiday and provisional family visa holders to return

18
00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:03,560
Speaker 1: to the country.

19
00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:07,479
Speaker 2: Some good news for our WA listeners. The Premier Mark

20
00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,720
Speaker 2: McGowan has announced the state will ease its border restrictions

21
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,320
Speaker 2: on Saturday, the fifth of February next year. It comes

22
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,759
Speaker 2: as the state yesterday reached the eighty percent double dose

23
00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,960
Speaker 2: vaccination milestone for its population aged twelve and over.

24
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,560
Speaker 1: And some more good news for you. The federal government

25
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,080
Speaker 1: has announced it will commit one hundred and six million

26
00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,560
Speaker 1: dollars over the next four years to support Tellyhealth becoming

27
00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,640
Speaker 1: a permanent feature of Australia's healthcare system. More than sixteen

28
00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,960
Speaker 1: million of US have used telehealth services during the pandemic,

29
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,800
Speaker 1: with Health Minister Greg Hunt saying it's been critical to

30
00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,200
Speaker 1: ensuring the continuity of care for hundreds of thousands of

31
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,600
Speaker 1: OZZY patients during the COVID pandemic.

32
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,400
Speaker 3: Because I'm afraid we're now facing an emergency in our

33
00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,920
Speaker 3: battle with the new variant Omicron, and we must urgently

34
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,960
Speaker 3: reinforce our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends

35
00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:08,200
Speaker 3: and love ones safe. Today we're launching the Omicron Emergency

36
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 3: Booster National Mission, unlike anything we've done before in the

37
00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:15,880
Speaker 3: vaccination program to get boosted now.

38
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,640
Speaker 2: That was UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday, reflecting on

39
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,640
Speaker 2: the situation currently unfolding in the UK. There is no

40
00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,200
Speaker 2: mincing of words there the case numbers in the UK

41
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,320
Speaker 2: have been climbing quite dramatically, and in light of that,

42
00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,040
Speaker 2: we know that the government has announced that booster shots

43
00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,800
Speaker 2: will be offered to everyone in the UK over the

44
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,400
Speaker 2: age of eighteen before the end of the year, and

45
00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,680
Speaker 2: that's to slow the spread of the omicron COVID nineteen variant. Sam,

46
00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,160
Speaker 2: What do we know is happening over there right now?

47
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,040
Speaker 1: So before we dive into what has happened in the

48
00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,520
Speaker 1: last kind of week or so, let's zoom out a

49
00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,400
Speaker 1: bit and just paint a picture of what it's like

50
00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,200
Speaker 1: in the UK. So, since the beginning of the pandemic,

51
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,240
Speaker 1: there's been ten point eight million COVID cases in the UK,

52
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,680
Speaker 1: with one hundred and forty six thousand deaths. Over eighty

53
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,119
Speaker 1: percent of people aged twelve and up in the UK

54
00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,120
Speaker 1: have received two doses of the vaccine, with forty percent

55
00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,240
Speaker 1: of adults receiving three doses, and that is the real

56
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,959
Speaker 1: push from Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Yesterday he said there

57
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,480
Speaker 1: is a tidal wave of omicron coming and urged people

58
00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,080
Speaker 1: to get this third booster shot, and that's when he

59
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,720
Speaker 1: made the announcement Zara that any veryone over the age

60
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 1: of eighteen will get a booster by the end of

61
00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,360
Speaker 1: the year if they want one. Case, numbers of Omicron

62
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,240
Speaker 1: are doubling in the UK every two to three days.

63
00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,360
Speaker 1: It's not that much of a change from the original plan.

64
00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,960
Speaker 1: The original plan was to offer everyone a booster shot

65
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:37,960
Speaker 1: by the end of January, but they've just kind of

66
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,960
Speaker 1: expedited that process, similar to the way here that the

67
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,280
Speaker 1: booster shot once was available after six months and now

68
00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,320
Speaker 1: it's after five months. It's small changes to the system

69
00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,360
Speaker 1: to speed up progress. In the light of the Omicron variant.

70
00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 1: People in the UK are really responding to calls four

71
00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,560
Speaker 1: more booster shots. On Saturday, over a million booster shots

72
00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,960
Speaker 1: and third doses of the vaccine were administered. Prime Minister

73
00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,600
Speaker 1: Boris Johnson said at that press conference that we played

74
00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:06,880
Speaker 1: you at the beginning. I'm afraid it's now clear that

75
00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,600
Speaker 1: two doses of the vaccine are simply not enough to

76
00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,720
Speaker 1: give the level of protection we all need. Now. Interestingly, Zara,

77
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,880
Speaker 1: we're starting to get a little bit more detailed health

78
00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,320
Speaker 1: information about what omicron is actually doing to a health

79
00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,000
Speaker 1: system like the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that

80
00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,039
Speaker 1: whilst they're facing an emergency in our battle with the

81
00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 1: new variant. He did say that scientists still can't determine

82
00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,200
Speaker 1: if it's less severe, and that a wave of omicron

83
00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:37,800
Speaker 1: through the population would risk though a level of hospitalization

84
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,760
Speaker 1: that could overwhelm the national Health service. So there's clearly

85
00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,919
Speaker 1: an indication here that omicron is a force to be

86
00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,120
Speaker 1: reckoned with. The big clue for UK authorities is simply

87
00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,680
Speaker 1: the fact that there has been hospitalizations from omnicron in

88
00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,120
Speaker 1: those who are double or even triple vaxed, and all

89
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,840
Speaker 1: of this has led to the threat level of the

90
00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,880
Speaker 1: UK's COVID nineteen response being raised to a level four,

91
00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,520
Speaker 1: which indicates a high or rising level of transmission. It's

92
00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,919
Speaker 1: a five level system and for the threat to be

93
00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,640
Speaker 1: raised to a five, it's an indication that the healthcare

94
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 1: system is about to be overwhelmed. So we really want

95
00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,240
Speaker 1: to avoid that. So from here, Zara, the plan for

96
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,000
Speaker 1: the UK government is to continue that rate of a

97
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,400
Speaker 1: million doses a day until the end of the year,

98
00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,400
Speaker 1: and it's believed that that should offer adequate protection to

99
00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,000
Speaker 1: allow the transmission level to stay at that level four

100
00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,799
Speaker 1: and to not hit a level five. It's a national

101
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,479
Speaker 1: mission to deliver boost vaccines. There's pop up vaccination centers

102
00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,880
Speaker 1: back and seven days a week, rotating teams of military

103
00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:43,039
Speaker 1: planners and thousands of volunteer vaccinators. There is a sense

104
00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,200
Speaker 1: that I get that the UK is a couple of

105
00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,560
Speaker 1: weeks ahead of where Australia currently is. We're seeing rising

106
00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,320
Speaker 1: cases in some of the big cities across Australia, and

107
00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,799
Speaker 1: especially with this Newcastle cluster in New South Wales, rising

108
00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,880
Speaker 1: cases of the omicron variant, and it's worth keeping a

109
00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,560
Speaker 1: close eye on the UK and their experience with this

110
00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:01,599
Speaker 1: booster rollout.

111
00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,760
Speaker 2: On that positive note, that is all we have time

112
00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,320
Speaker 2: for today. Thank you as ever for joining us on

113
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,200
Speaker 2: the Daily OS. If you want to find out more

114
00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:11,440
Speaker 2: or keep up to date on the latest case numbers

115
00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,680
Speaker 2: across Australia, follow us on Instagram. It's where over a

116
00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,320
Speaker 2: quarter of a million Australians get their news every day.

117
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,000
Speaker 2: We'd love to welcome you as part of that community

118
00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,160
Speaker 2: and thanks for supporting us over here on the Pod.

119
00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:22,920
Speaker 2: Have a great day.