2020 NT Safety Symposium

1. PROF DIANNE STEPHENS OAM
MEDICAL DIRECTOR NCCTRC
NT CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER QUARANTINE FACILITIES
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
CHALLENGES 2020 AND
BEYOND

2. Dec 31st 2019
China alerts WHO to cases of pneumonia Wuhan
Jan 1st 2020
Wuhan’s wholesale seafood market shut down
Jan 7th 2020
Identification of novel coronavirus in lab in China
Jan 11th 2020
China announces first death
Jan 13th 2020
First case outside China in Thailand
Jan 23rd 2020
Wuhan placed under lock down
Jan 30th 2020
WHO - public health emergency of international
concern
March 11th 2020
WHO – declared COVID-19 Global Pandemic
GLOBAL PICTURE
Americas
South-East Asia
Europe
Eastern Mediterranean
Africa
Western Pacific
Deaths
Cases
30-Dec
20-Jan
10-Feb
2-Mar
23-Mar
13-Apr
4-May
25-May
15-Jun
6-Jul
27-Jul
17-Aug
7-Sep
28-Sep
19-Oct
9-Nov
Deaths
Figure 1: COVID-19 cases reported weekly by WHO Region, and global deaths, as of 15 November 2020**
4 500 000
4 000 000
3 500 000
3 000 000
2 500 000
2 000 000
1 500 000
1 000 000
500 000
70 000
60 000
50 000
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
0 0
GLOBAL CASES AT 15 NOV 2020: 53 MILLION
GLOBAL DEATHS AT 15 NOV 2020: 1.3 MILLION

3. Timeline and Challenges
Friday 31st January
2020 Coronavirus Preparedness event WEBEOC created
Scoping of Howard Springs Facility
Monday 3rd February
AUSMAT mission to escort and quarantine first and second
cohort (242 + 36) from Wuhan to CI
Thursday 6th Feb
COVID-19 declared NT notifiable disease
Sunday 9th February
Wuhan cohort (266) arrive Howard Springs
Thursday 20th February
Diamond Princess Cohort (170) arrive Howard Springs - two test
positive on day one and total eight test positive

4. Timeline and Challenges
Wednesday 4th March - First Darwin case diagnosed
Friday 13th March –
DFAT upgraded travel advice for all Australians to reconsider need to travel
overseas
Tiwi Land Council restricted entry for Tiwi Grand Final
Sunday 15th March
All returned travellers from overseas to quarantine for 14 days
Wednesday 18th March
All Australians not to travel overseas indefinitely

5. Timeline and Challenges
Wednesday 18th March
NT Gatherings CHO Direction with density and physical distancing rules
Monday 23rd March
NT Closes food and entertainment businesses
Tuesday 24th March
NT closes the borders – all interstate arrivals into 14 days home quarantine
Thursday 26th March
NT Biosecurity zones enacted restricting movement into remote communities
Saturday 28th March
Interstate arrivals into NT mandatory hotel quarantine
Sunday 29th March
Travel ban on all foreign nationals / International arrivals quarantine at designated facilities at port of arrival
Building a plane whilst trying to fly it

6. Timeline and Challenges
17th July 2020 NT borders
open with only people arriving
from declared hotspots going
into mandatory quarantine in
HSQF and Todd Facility
Melb 7 July Ongoing
Victoria 15 July – 2 Nov
Sydney 15 July-9 October
Brisbane 1 – 7 August
Adelaide 16 Nov ongoing

7. NT CASES
TOTAL cases 19th Nov 2020: 47

8. AUSTRALIA

9. Health Lessons Learned
Emergency management environment needs to be adapted to public health emergency
Need to increase knowledge, resources and training in emergency management structure
across health sector – multiagency response and responsibilities
Rapidly changing regulatory environment – multi agency approach to drafting directions
Consistent public messaging and community confidence is critical
Public health emergencies have an economic impact that require multisector engagement
Planning is a dynamic process – not a set and forget exercise
Movement in and out of remote communities is extensive and supply chains critical

10. Health Lessons Learned
Lean Public Health Structure required Leaders to assume multiple tasks with minimal time
for strategic planning and sharing across the sector – formation new PHAG
Opaque lines between politicians and agencies and across agencies – reaching in from
many directions – need for detailed command and control structure
Planning for vulnerable populations across urban and remote settings – collaborative
partnerships – multi agency response
Burden of Responsibility for community safety – impact on workers

11. BEYOND 2020
Globally pandemic has not peaked
so hold on team – it’s not over!
Embed new ways of working and
living to create our new normal –
the old normal is not coming back
Biggest short term risk in the NT is
our success and COVID-19 Fatigue
Vaccine development and
distribution will take years to roll
out