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Household contacts of people infected with Covid-19 are no longer required to isolate in any Australian state.
Tasmania on Monday became the last jurisdiction to eliminate the requirement for people to isolate for a week if a member of their household had the virus.
There are around 330,000 active coronavirus cases around the country, with more than 3,000 in hospital with the virus.
Tasmania on Monday became the last jurisdiction to eliminate the requirement for people to isolate for a week if a member of their household had the virus (pictured, a masked woman walking in Hobart)
Meanwhile, NSW and Victorian health authorities confirmed last week they had detected evidence of two new sub-variants of the Omicron strain – BA.4 and BA.2.12.1.
The World Health Organisation has declared the BA.4 strain a highly transmissible variant of concern.
An article in the Medical Journal of Australia published on Monday documented the ‘huge challenges’ the virus presented for general practices over the past two years.
Author Claire Jackson from the University of Queensland, said digital innovation, phone and videoconference consulting, remote monitoring, and new models of care offering optimal access had been ‘the big winners from the COVID-19 experience’.
While telehealth rebates were modest, digital access to GPs had been embraced by patients ‘and will be hard to unwind’.
‘At this time, the vast majority of those affected have mild disease and are able to manage well at home with practice telehealth support,’ the report said.
‘2022 will no doubt present new challenges as COVID-19 continues to alarm, dismay and disconcert.
‘The only certainty is our acknowledged inability to precisely predict its direction, impact and eventual defeat.’
Western Australia’s government meanwhile announced it will provide a further 10 free rapid antigen tests to close contacts who are asymptomatic.
The tests, which can be collected at vaccination and testing clinics across the state, are in addition to the 15 free tests which are already being distributed to every household.
NSW and Victoria health authorities confirmed last week they had detected evidence of two new sub-variants of the Omicron strain – BA.4 and BA.2.12.1 (pictured, woman has a swab taken at a drive-through Covid testing clinic at Bondi Beach, Sydney)
Source: DailyMail AU
