Did COVID escape from a lab? Was it natural evolution? How did it happen?

These are all very big questions that scientists have been working on answering ever since SARS-CoV-2 arrived in our lives in late 2019.

Now, the release of two (still to be peer reviewed) articles have outlined more evidence that COVID didn't escape a lab, and instead evolved naturally in animals before jumping to humans.

And on today's Coronacast, they may have even found the very cage in the Wuhan market where COVID made the jump.

GUEST:Professor Eddie Holmes, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney

Western Australia has reopened its border after more than a year of staying shut off from the world as part of its COVID control strategy.

While people can once again travel, WA is in the middle of a growing outbreak - but it has imposed restrictions to help flatten the curve.

With WA now open again, Australia is once again whole - so how is the nation tracking for COVID and how does 2022 compare to previous years?

Also on today's show:

* The TGA provisionally approves AstraZeneca's combination antibodies. What is it? How does it differ from vaccination? And why might it be useful?

Last year was all about the push to vaccinate adults and teens against COVID-19, and despite a slow start we certainly got there in the end.

Now this year the vaccine focus has turned to two things: third doses for adults, and first doses for younger kids.

So how is the vaccine rollout for 5-11s going? How do the vaccines work in kids and what is the latest of safety and efficacy?

Throughout history, war and disease have gone hand in hand.

As the Russian/Ukrainian war escalates, it's still too early to know what effect it'll have on the COVID-19 pandemic but it certainly won't help.

So what can we learn from previous conflicts and pandemics, like the 1918 flu pandemic or even the plague?

That's on today's Coronacast

Also on today's show:

* What can we learn from two Omicron superspreading events in Newcastle?

* Cases in WA continue to go up

* Quick(ish) Fire Friday returns!

More and more states and territories are slowly removing restrictions, and letting people try to return to a sense of a normal life.

Victoria yesterday said that masks can come off in most indoor environments from midnight Friday and Queensland is scrapping density limits and stopping daily press conferences.

So is this finally the end of the pandemic, or more just a lull between variants?

Also on today's show:

* Vaccination while pregnant safe, another study finds

* Worried about long-COVID? Here are four possible risk factors that might trigger it.

As we move to the next phases of the pandemic, there are many people who are yet to make the psychological jump and mental readjustment to a different life.

Many are only mildly anxious, but there are also groups of people who are still worried about leaving their house.

So what can you do if you have a friend or family member suffering from pandemic related anxiety or even depression?

GUEST:

Professor Frances Kay-Lambkin, a psychologist and mental health researcher at the University of Newcastle

It's taken several weeks, but the number of new COVID-19 cases in Western Australia is now increasing rapidly.

At the start of February, WA had a 7-day average of 19 cases a day. Now that average is nearly 100.

So from here, can we expect to see a very rapid increase in cases like we saw in the eastern states over Christmas/New Year?

Or could the delayed reopening and closed borders help flatten that curve?

Also on today's show:

* Victoria and NSW announce they're loosening restrictions even more

So, where's this pandemic actually heading? It's a good question and quite hard to answer as... well... no one can tell you the future.

But experts have never shied away from making some educated guesses, including SAGE, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies in the UK.

They've published four scenarios ranging from as good as it can be given the circumstances to downright doom and gloom.

So on today's Coronacast, what does SAGE think we can expect from the pandemic over the next few years and which scenario is most likely to be right?

When COVID burst onto the scene in late 2019, it came as a shock to most of the world's population and we've all been dealing with it ever since.

But to many researchers, it was less of a surprise and more of an inevitability - and now they're urging governments to act now to stop the next one.

It comes down to the old medical saying: prevention is better than cure.

So what can be done to help prevent the next pandemic and how much will it cost?

For months now, experts have been saying we'll need three doses to be protected from coronavirus, especially the Omicron variant.

And now, it's official.

Yesterday, the rules changed and people over 16 will be required to have all three doses of a COVID vaccine to be considered "up to date".

So why make the change now when previously two vaccines were considered good enough? And might it mean for vaccine mandates down the track?

Also on today's show:

* Should me and my family just go out and get Omicron?

* Should I wait the full eight weeks to get my daughters second vaccination or should I do it at six?

* Does testing positive just after my booster reduce its effectiveness?