Quarantine for close contacts of COVID-19 cases could be removed altogether, if a recommendation by Australia's top public health officers is adopted by state and territory governments.
A statement released by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) last night says quarantine could be replaced with other risk mitigation measures for close contacts once the peak of the current wave of the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant is over.
Cases of the sub-variant are expected to peak in NSW, Victoria and South Australia as soon as next week.
A meeting of national cabinet last month had asked the AHPPC to provide advice on how each jurisdiction could best manage ditching the quarantine period heading into winter.
The AHPPC said quarantining could be replaced with frequent rapid antigen testing for close contacts, wearing masks when leaving home, working from home, avoiding high-risk settings and monitoring for symptoms.
"Where quarantine is required, seven days remains appropriate at this time," the committee recommended.
People with COVID-19 or symptoms of the disease would still have to self-isolate.
Call for consistent nationwide approach
South Australia only cut the required close contact quarantine period from 14 days to seven days last week, matching the requirement in other states.
The state's Chief Public Health Officer, Nicola Spurrier, who sits on the AHPPC, said today the committee was "quite keen to have a change across the nation" this time.
"We'll be watching very closely but not just in South Australia; we do want to move on this as a nation," she added.
Following the national cabinet meeting on March 11, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he believed isolation rules for close contacts of COVID-19 cases were "redundant".
"We've tasked the medical expert panel to say we want your urgent advice on this as soon as possible, because we'd like to say goodbye to that rule as quickly as we can," he said.
The AHPPC met on March 23 but only put out its recommendations yesterday.
It said removing quarantine requirements could "lead to higher caseloads and a reduced capacity for the health system to provide some acute and elective services".
It noted that other countries that had removed quarantine requirements were "experiencing significant societal and health system disruption arising from increased rates of infection".
