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National cabinet has agreed to relax the isolation rules for close contacts of a COVID-19 case as soon as possible.
Key points:
- The national expert health panel has been asked to provide urgent advice about how states can remove the quarantine period
- The change had been foreshadowed by Health Minister Greg Hunt last month
- National cabinet also agreed to move away from PCR tests for people with mild symptoms
State and territory leaders met on Friday to discuss a range of issues, including how to respond to the recent cases of Japanese encephalitis virus.
National cabinet has asked the national expert health panel, the AHPPC, to provide urgent advice about how each jurisdiction can best manage ditching the quarantine period.
The change had been foreshadowed by Health Minister Greg Hunt last month, when he said removing the requirement would be the next stage toward living with the virus.
"It has worked well with our nurses; it has worked well with those in critical sectors to ensure that there's adequate workforce, so there is that capacity," he said.
The definition and quarantine length for close contacts was overhauled at the end of last year, in an attempt to ease supply chain issues across many of the eastern states as they grappled with widespread COVID outbreaks over the holiday period.
Then in January, the group of leaders took another step to try and get people back to critical sectors when they agreed to expand which jobs would be exempt from the close contact isolation requirements.
As well as ending quarantine for close contacts, national cabinet also agreed to transition away from doing PCR tests for people who only have mild respiratory symptoms or illness.
Instead, if the AHPPC agrees with the plan, people who do have mild symptoms will be encouraged to voluntarily self-isolate.
The group also noted the new announcement for the government of a $2.1 billion funding boost to help get Australia ready for the upcoming winter, the first where there's expected to be both COVID and influenza outbreaks.
The announcement comes as NSW prepares for COVID-19 cases to double next month, and experts warn that the sub-variant of Omicron, which is believed to be more transmissible, is becoming the dominant strain.
National cabinet will meet again in June.
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