Huge changes to Covid rules in Australia loom with state and territory governments advised to scrap isolation requirements for close contacts
- States and territories to consider easing isolation rules for Covid close contacts
- Comes after peak medical expert body said some jurisdictions could scrap rules
- Requirement can be scrapped if state or territory had experienced peak in cases
- Experts agree new cases in NSW and Victoria levelling out but remain cautious
- Scrapping rules too early could increase community transmission, experts warn
A huge switch-up to Covid rules looms with Australian states and territories told to consider scrapping isolation requirements for close contacts of the virus.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said he was 'looking forward' to the rule being axed but said the decision ultimately lay with state and territory leaders.
'We don't make those decisions at the Commonwealth level,' he said.
'It is premiers who decide to shut cities down or open them up, not the Commonwealth government.'
Leaders on Friday were handed advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) calling for an easing of isolation requirements.
The peak medical body said testing and isolation rules could be eased in jurisdictions that would see the peak of the latest wave of new cases in mid-April.
Australian states and territories have been told to consider scrapping isolation requirements for close contacts (pictured, a masked woman in Queensland)
The peak medical body said testing and isolation rules could be eased in jurisdictions that would see the peak of the latest wave of new cases in mid-April (pictured, testing in Sydney)
The Omicron BA.2 variant is understood to be the driving force behind new infections, accounting for about 80 per cent of fresh cases.
As state and territory leaders are encouraged to take a 'nationally consistent, risk-based transition' by the peak body, health experts are saying otherwise.
The NSW state health department in an internal presentation earlier this month warned of a horror winter with Covid cases set to double and a deadly flu season.
But in a potential roadblock, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he wouldn't be advising the state government to relax its isolation rules at this stage of the pandemic amid fears people were becoming complacent.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he wouldn't be advising the state government to relax its isolation rules at this stage of the pandemic amid fears people were becoming complacent
'As Health Minister I wouldn't be rushing to recommend to government that we change our position currently on close contacts,' Mr Hazzard told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'Every day there are thousands of people who are confirmed positive and every day there are people dying.'
The health minister has previously stated he holds concerns around 'the failure of about 45 per cent of eligible people not having had a booster'.
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On Monday, NSW recorded 15,572 new cases with 1,418 people in hospital while Victoria detected 10,011 fresh infections and 305 hospitalisations.
The southern state will also evaluate when to drop the seven-day isolation rule for close contacts as the country enters Phase D of the pandemic.
Health experts in Victoria have warned easing isolation requirements before the current wave has peaked will put unneccessary pressure on the health system.
Infectious diseases expert and ANU Professor Peter Collignon said isolation rules should be in proportion to the risk of potentially triggering new infections.
On Monday, NSW recorded 15,572 new cases with 1,418 people in hospital while Victoria detected 10,011 fresh infections and 305 hospitalisations (pictured is beach-goers in Bondi)
'I think it is sensible (to scrap isolation rules) once numbers are down significantly in the community,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'All states and territories need to keep on monitoring this and the level of restrictions you have and isolation quarantine should be proportionate to the risk.'
AHPPC advice recommends that in the place of isolating, close contacts should take rapid antigen tests, wear masks in public and avoid high-risk settings.
Isolation is still recommended for confirmed positive and asymptomatic cases.
The peak health body said easing quarantine requirements too soon could put strain on the health system and see community transmission increase.
The AHPPC also advised PCR testing only be extended to those symptomatic and at risk of severe disease, or those who lived with people at a greater risk.
Earlier this month, the prime minister (pictured is Melbourne on Monday) said Phase D of the pandemic would mean Australians lived alongside the virus as if it were the flu
Earlier this month, the prime minister said Phase D of the pandemic would mean Australians lived alongside the virus as if it were the flu.
'The other big change we talked about yesterday is getting rid of the close contact rule, which makes a lot of sense,' Mr Morrison said.
'It is important that we remove this close contact rule because it is starving businesses of staff, hospitals of staff.
'That rule is becoming, we believe as leaders, redundant, so we tasked the medical expert panel to say what your urgent advice is on this as soon as possible.
'We would like to say goodbye to that rule as quickly as we can.'
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