The Prime Minister flagged the changes at the last national cabinet meeting in March, saying Australia has moved to the final phase of our national coronavirus plan — the post-vaccination phase.
Four Australian jurisdictions have now scrapped quarantine rules for close contacts of COVID-19 cases, moving to regular testing requirements and mask rules instead.
It comes as most states are recording thousands of cases per day, with more than 50,000 cases recorded throughout the country yesterday.Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged this after the last national cabinet meeting, which was held in March. "Australia has largely transitioned to phase d of the national plan, with states and territories and the Commonwealth considering removing the remaining restrictions in the coming months, subject to continued public health advice," he said.He also introduced the "winter preparedness and response" plan, which aims to deal with COVID cases and influenza during the cooler months.
National cabinet agreed to move to include no longer requiring close contacts to isolate, winding back PCR testing in healthy people with mild respiratory illness, promoting voluntary self-isolation for symptomatic people and an emphasis on personal responsibility.What is 'phase d'? It's referred to as the "final phase" in a document called the national plan to transition to Australia's national COVID-19 response.Australia's high vaccination rate means we're coming to the end of conclusion of the national COVID plan.And more than 69 per cent of the eligible population have received at least one booster shot.