From October 14, Victorians will no longer be required to isolate for five days after testing positive for Covid-19. The decision follows a unanimous vote by the national cabinet and applies to all Australian states and territories.
Implementation will be left in the hands of state powers, but at this stage, Victorians can expect isolation rules to be nixed as well as support payments for those infected by Covid-19 to cease. Exceptions will remain in place for casual workers across sectors like aged care, disability care, hospital care and Aboriginal health care.
This call comes off the back of the Australian government’s decision to move away from considering Covid-19 an "emergency", with prime minister Anthony Albanese saying in a statement to the ABC that an isolation mandate required government support, but now, as we move forward, things have changed, with him adding that it wasn’t feasible for the government to pay support wages “forever”.
“It was always envisaged that these measures were emergency measures that were put in place”, says Albanese.
In a media release, the Victorian Greens have cautioned the Labor government against scrapping these requirements. "Unless we retain some basic public health measures, there will be nothing to slow the next increase in Covid-19 which may not be far away," says Dr Tim Read, the Victorian Greens health spokesperson.