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Close contacts of COVID-19 cases may not be required to isolate under a new system being considered by national cabinet.
The federal government’s medical experts will provide urgent advice on how this change can be made.
It is expected each state and territory will move at its own pace.
Leaders are also awaiting advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) on getting rid of routine PCR tests for otherwise healthy people with mild symptoms.
They’re looking to instead promote voluntary self-isolation while symptomatic.
National Cabinet agreed to extend the COVID-19 Rapid Test Concessional Access Program to July 31 this year.
This will provide an additional 10 free RATs to each eligible concession cardholder over the additional three-month period.
This includes people with a Commonwealth seniors health card, a Department of Veterans’ Affairs gold, white or orange card, a health care card or a low-income health card.
The proposed changes are part of an agreement between Federal and State governments to take a nationally consistent approach to manage both the COVID-19 pandemic and the likely co-circulation of influenza this winter.
As a result, National Cabinet also urged the states and territories to consider mandating flu vaccines this year for aged care workers at residential aged care facilities.
New South Wales
New South Wales has recorded 14,034 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, a drop from yesterday.
Seven people died with the virus, and 39 people are in intensive care.
There are 998 people in hospital with the disease, up slightly from yesterday.
Yesterday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard forecast that COVID-19 numbers would double in the state in a matter of weeks.
His forecast was based on the exponential growth of the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, a more infectious strain of the virus.
“It’s very preliminary and we need to do a lot more digging,” Mr Hazzard said.
“But we are concerned at this point that BA.2 is amongst us and overtaking BA.1.”
The state recorded 16,288 cases yesterday, up dramatically from the 9017 cases announced on Sunday.
Victoria
Cases were also down in Victoria, with 6811 people testing positive.
Ten people died with the virus, and there are 27 people in intensive care.
There are 185 people hospitalised with the disease, three fewer than yesterday.
Victoria recorded 7779 new cases yesterday and eight deaths.
Queensland
Queensland also saw a slight drop in cases with 4327 new infections recorded, compared to 4571 yesterday.
Another eight lives were lost and there are 16 people in intensive care being treated.
There are currently 27,018 active cases across Queensland and a total of 250 people in hospital with COVID-19.
Western Australia
Western Australia recorded 5005 new COVID-19 cases overnight, an increase from yesterday’s 3594.
There were zero deaths recorded, but there are now three people in intensive care being treated for the virus.
A total of 20,788 Western Australians are currently infected and there are 92 cases in hospital.
National cabinet will be discussing a forecast winter wave of COVID-19 and the flu when they meet today.
The federal government is expected to allocate $2.1 billion to a management plan, after health experts spent months predicting a surge in respiratory illnesses during the winter.
Australia has not seen widespread winter flu for about two years, with COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns largely preventing a viral spread.
Source: 9News
