A striking feature of the Perrottet government’s response to the newly-arrived Omicron variant has been the absence from the public stage of NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant | DeborahSnow lucy_carroll
A striking feature of the Perrottet government’s response to the newly-arrived Omicron variant has been the absence from the public stage of NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant.
In Europe the mood seems more sombre, with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen telling journalists, “prepare for the worst, hope for the best”.Perrottet says the absence of the state’s senior health officials from the public eye does not mean they’re sidelined.It’s all of a piece, he says, with his decision as incoming premier to scrap the daily 11am media briefings and rebadge Berejiklian’s crisis cabinet committee as the ‘COVID Economic Recovery Committee’ ..
“We certainly agreed that a consistent approach between Victoria and NSW was the best way to go, and where we can find common ground over the course of this we will seek to find it together,” Perrottet says. “I think the relationship I’ve had so far with Dan has been incredibly positive.” That view is shared by Doherty Institute head Sharon Lewin, who’s been one of the federal governments most trusted external advisers throughout the pandemic.
The three most pressing questions are: it is more transmissible than the highly contagious Delta variant? Does it cause more severe disease? And is it better at evading existing vaccines, which have been designed to target less radically mutated versions of the spike protein, which the virus uses to enter human cells?
“We need to keep it in perspective at the moment” Hazzard said on Friday. “We are not seeing people being suddenly rushed to hospital. What we’re seeing is people who are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms”. But Lewin is less alarmed. “I’ve been hearing so-called experts say, ‘oh my God, 35 mutations, that’s so scary’” she tells theShe says all the vaccines that have been administered were originally designed against the early, less infectious Wuhan strain but have worked “pretty well” against the Alpha and Delta strains.
The fear is the infected child could have picked up Omicron on the flight, which has sent authorities scrambling to track down fellow travellers. Perrottet says “the plan at this stage is to stick with that date – there has been no evidence in front of us that would lead to any change”.
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