Australians will no longer have to isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 from the 14 October. This was conveyed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after the national cabinet agreed on the change. The decision was taken after Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer provided an update on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thanking his colleagues for a successful cabinet meeting, Albanese said, “We have agreed today that states and territories will end their mandatory isolation requirements on 14 October.”
The Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment effective will also end from the same date “with the exception of people in high-risk settings, which need to be given particular support. So, aged care, health care, the measures, disability care, the areas that have been previously identified”.
“We wanted to make sure that we have measures which are proportionate and that are targeted at the most vulnerable. We want to continue to promote vaccinations as being absolutely critical, including people getting booster shots. And we want a policy that promotes resilience and capacity-building and reduces a reliance on government intervention,” the Prime Minister said.
Chief Medical Officer Prof Paul Kelly said removing the isolation rules was based on context and time specific set of recommendations. “It recognises that we are in a very low community transmission phase of the here in Australia. It does not in anyway suggest that the pandemic is finished, we will almost certainly see future peaks of the virus as we have seen early this year.”
“We also have at the moment very high hybrid immunity from the previous infections and high vaccination rates,” Prof Kelly said.
“Isolation itself cannot bee seen in isolation. It needs to be seen in context of that high vaccination rate, high previous infection, the availability of treatments and vaccines and all of the measures in place.”
“It is not that we have changed the infectiousness of the virus, it is still infectious but in the context we are in at the moment in Australia – and this is an important epidemiological point – we cant just look at isolation by itself. We need to look at all of those measures and the protection we have as well as other protections,” he added.
Alabanese laid down a nationally consistent approach to transition Australia’s COVID-19 response on the basis of the following principles:
- minimising the level of severe COVID-19 and death, including through ensuring measures are effective, proportionate and targeted wherever possible for the most vulnerable and at risk populations;
- ensuring the health, economic and social systems as a whole have the capacity and capability to respond to future waves;
- promoting and creating an environment that mitigates pandemic fatigue and generates self-reliance, resilience and capacity building which reduces the reliance on government interventions;
- continue to promote the importance of vaccinations, including boosters, to improve health outcomes;
- supporting the economic and social well-being of those living in Australia; and
- returning funding and policy efforts to a more sustainable footing, including for business and individual supports, aged care and health funding.
(Press conference & media release)
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