Just in: People who test positive for COVID-19 will only be required to isolate for five days except in vulnerable settings.
Mandatory mask-wearing on domestic flights and the seven-day isolation will be scrapped next week as COVID-19 restrictions ease across the country.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced, following a national cabinet on Wednesday afternoon, August 31, that COVID-19 isolation requirements would be shortened by two days for most workers across Australia. The mandatory isolation will be reduced from seven days to five for people with no symptoms, allowing them to return to work sooner with precautions.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Workers in high-risk settings such as disability and aged care, and people still displaying symptoms would be required to keep to the seven-day isolation period. The reduced isolation requirement will come into effect from September 9 2022.
“We want people to stay home. We want people to act responsibly,” Mr Albanese said today.
“This was a proportionate response at this point in the pandemic.”
Alongside the change in isolation requirements, masks will also no longer be required on domestic flights from next Friday, bringing flights in line with requirements in domestic terminals along with the relaxation of mandates in most settings across the country.
Support payments for people required to isolate will also be reduced from the same date. Albanese said the eligibility for the $750 emergency leave support would be updated to reflect the change to five days, meaning the payment will be cut to $540.
It’s unclear at this stage how long these payments will continue to be in place with the measure initially set to end on June 30, but was extended for a further three months amid backlash about the nation struggling during Australia’s Omicron wave.
Albanese said national cabinet would meet again within weeks to decide whether to extend the payment beyond September 30.
You can find out more about COVID-19 in Victoria here.
