COVID isolation rules

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the changes on Friday, which will come into effect on October 14, following a National cabinet meeting in Canberra.

It does not in any way suggest that the pandemic is finished. “We need to get to a point where if you’re sick you stay at home and if you’re well, you go out and about and enjoy life and that’s where we have to get to as a country,” he told reporters. “It’s a period of significant risk and we’re urging caution because we need to protect the health system.” “People who are pushing for the isolation periods to be cut are not scientifically literate and are putting the public at risk, and they need to understand that,” he told the ABC. “We are in a very low transmission ... “The pandemic leave disaster payments will end at that time as well, with the exception of people in high-risk settings, which need to be given particular support,” he said.

Workers in health, disability and aged care will be exempt when both measures are scrapped on 14 October, Anthony Albanese says.

“It is important that we keep an option for a change to these settings in the future … Asked whether he could envisage ever recommending to national cabinet in future that isolation rules be reinstated, Kelly said he would provide further information on transition plans in due course. “It does not in any way suggest that the pandemic is finished. He said all state premiers and chief ministers had agreed unanimously to the change, claiming it was “not sustainable” for governments to keep paying workers to stay home. In the press conference, Kelly stressed his recommendation was “context-specific and timing-specific”, tied to current virus trends. “It recognises that we are in a very low community transmission phase of the pandemic here in Australia,” he said.

Independent MP Dr Monique Ryan has called on national cabinet to release the minutes of its meeting to justify its decision to scrap mandatory isolation of ...

“The reality is that without mandatory isolation, many people will return to work while they are sick and infectious ... “Removing COVID 19 isolation will have significant impacts on our local and national economies and on workforces that are already struggling with absenteeism, both from COVID infection and reinfection and from the emerging public health crisis of long COVID.” Independent MP Dr Monique Ryan has called on national cabinet to release the minutes of its meeting to justify its decision to scrap mandatory isolation of COVID-19 cases.

Australia has said it will end mandatory Covid isolation requirements from next month. Currently anyone who tests positive to the virus must isolate for ...

About 15,000 people have died with the virus in Australia - fewer than many nations. Prof Kelly said the country would see "future peaks" of the virus, but it currently had "very low" numbers of hospital admissions and aged-care outbreaks. At times nicknamed "Fortress Australia", the country has had some of the strictest restrictions in the world since the pandemic began.

As of October 14, no Covid positive people in NSW will be mandated to self-isolate for five days.

[Following a unanimous decision](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/covid-19-isolation-period-dropped-national-cabinet/101489566) by national cabinet, all Australian states and territories will no longer be federally required to implement isolation rules, with everyone in NSW and Australia-wide seeing these requirements end as of October 14. [Albanese said](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/covid-19-isolation-period-dropped-national-cabinet/101489566). How this will look will be left in the hands of state powers, with NSW premier Dominic Perrottet [a main instigator](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/sydney-news-covid-isolation-rules-to-end/101488916) behind this push to eradicate Covid health restrictions.

From 14 October people who test positive will no longer have to isolate in their homes for five days – but there are exceptions.

Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, said ending mandatory isolation periods was “a reasonable approach” that “recognises we are in a very low community transmission phase of the pandemic”. The difference is, from 14 October, most workers will not have access to pandemic leave payments. “If you work in a local bakery[and] say you’ve tested positive and you’re not sick, you have to tell the owner ‘I’m going to wear a mask for seven days’,” he says. “If you tested positive and you’ve avoided socialising, you’ve avoided work, and you have no symptoms – if you swab and get a negative test result you’re probably OK.” Prof Michael Toole from the Burnett Institute says if you test positive and are symptomatic, it is safest to “isolate for at least a week”. However, people who work in high-risk settings will not be able to return to work for five days after testing positive, and the official health advice for all workers is still for people to work from home or avoid going to work if they test positive and have symptoms.

Friday's decision should not surprise - Australia is following the rest of the world on pandemic rules.

He was previously deputy editor of The Sun-Herald and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via But in the end that’s the main game for health policy; taking care of people who are actually sick. But all the evidence suggests that is just rhetorical window-dressing for the slice of the population still very concerned about COVID. If a significant part of the population was still getting tested for COVID, and isolating upon a positive result, you would expect to see at least some of those MCG seats empty on game day. Those numbers tell you a lot about the state of the pandemic in Australia; for most, it’s a non-entity. On Friday, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly stressed the pandemic was not over, and there would be further waves.

Australians who test positive to COVID-19 will no longer be forced to isolate for five days as the governm...

From this date, every state and territory will end its public mandate for five days of isolation for people who test positive to COVID-19. It means people will no longer be mandated by law to stay at home for five days if they test positive to the virus. Each state and territory will implement the change to isolation rules through specific state-based legislation. [Anthony Albanese](https://www.9news.com.au/Anthony-Albanese)said from October 14 all state and territory COVID-19 isolation mandates will end. [COVID-19](https://www.9news.com.au/coronavirus)will no longer be forced to isolate for five days as the government works to remove almost all pandemic-related restrictions. Australians who test positive to

The mood on the streets of Melbourne was one of caution and concern, following Friday's decision by national cabinet to end mandatory COVID isolation on ...

Otherwise, it’s get on with it and let’s grow Australia again.” [Sign up here](https://www.smh.com.au/link/follow-20170101-p57ogt). “It’s a very expensive exercise for an issue that has almost gone away.” She hadn’t had the virus but has had four jabs. If we are not feeling well we stay home. Business Council of Australia boss Jennifer Westacott said Australia had to “move with the rest of the world” with management of the virus. “It’s almost gone now. Out enjoying Friday night drinks at Southbank, Ross Valerkou, 48, was a bit more relaxed. “Ultimately, now we get to join with the rest of the world and wave COVID goodbye.” [ATAGI co-chair Allan Cheng](https://www.theage.com.au/national/you-agonise-over-it-allen-cheng-s-lockdown-dilemma-20210722-p58byb.html) who she said was “very trustworthy” and was not a fan of scrapping the isolation period. “It’s treating the virus as a joke, and it shouldn’t be treated as a joke,” he told The Age. But David and Anne Schmitt were concerned about the move because the couple were both considered to be in the high-risk.

National cabinet's unanimous decision to scrap COVID isolation rules has split the medical community. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that.

COVID is a long-term infectious [virus]; we’re already seeing a massive effect of long COVID on the workforce and the community. “If you think the flu is COVID, you’re living in fantasy land. You don’t have [that] with long flu or long cold. But it does mean that we’ve come through this last wave,” Professor Bennett said. Others label the move illogical and dangerous. “We need to protect the health system, and we need to protect vulnerable people like those in aged care and people with a disability,” he said.

A day before national cabinet unanimously agreed to end mandatory isolation rules, the prime minister asked the nation's top doctor whether it was a good ...

"This is due to a combination of viral factors … Work health and safety elements apply for all sorts of infectious diseases, COVID should be seen like that," he said Professor Kelly has said it is "highly likely" that there will be further waves of infection, and that will continue to occur for at least another two years. "Aged care is a really helpful way of looking at and monitoring the situation going forward because of the close attention we are giving to that particularly vulnerable setting and we will continue to do that," Professor Kelly said. "What I can say about the effect of this is that it remains to be seen and we will continue to be looking closely at that," he said. "It needs to be seen in the context of that high vaccination rate, high previous infection giving further protection, the availability of treatments, the availability of vaccines."