The PM says Australians will 'self regulate the COVID pandemic more in the months ahead. Here's how that might look
The arrival and spread of Omicron is the latest twist in Australia's experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in some ways it is reminiscent of earlier times.
"In the same way as we go into the summer season, people will be slapping on the hat and slapping on the sunscreen," he said."It's in the same category."The Prime Minister said Australians were "common sense people" who knew what they needed to do to protect their own health. "We have got systems in place that if there are pharmacies, GPs or other vaccine providers, if they are short of supply, to contact our vaccine operation centre, and we will marry them up with where there is supply available on shelves now, waiting to go into people's arms," he said.
Across the country, concerns about long queues for COVID testing have been a dominant theme as many people trying to travel interstate attempt to meet entry requirements.Mr Morrison said those requirements were "putting unnecessary pressure on the testing system". "The medical expert panel will give further advice on whether testing is required at all for travel, or if we can move to the more simple measure of RAT which will reduce those queues," he said.The Prime Minister also indicated that there would be a uniform definition of what a close contact was across the country, and as the volume of cases increased, casual contacts may stop being talked about at all.
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