Australia’s Main Health Protection Committee said on Friday that a new wave of COVID-19 infections caused by Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants is likely to lead to a further increase in cases, including those who have already had a previous COVID-19. variant.
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The health advisory group, made up of chief health officers, advised people who are at higher risk for serious illnesses who have symptoms but are negative in a rapid antigen test to seek a PCR test so they can access oral treatments for COVID-19 if eligible. .
The committee also said reinfections could occur as early as a month after recovering from COVID-19 and recommended that people who test positive for coronavirus more than 28 days after finishing isolation for a previous infection should be managed as a new case, starting at 12 weeks. .
He said vaccination remains the most important protection against serious diseases. Starting Monday, all Australians aged 30 and over will be eligible to receive a fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine.
Companies were also advised to consider the viability of some employees working from home, while it was recommended to wear masks when they were in crowded indoor environments, including public transportation.
Butler said while infections were on the rise, there was no medical advice that a warrant to wear masks was needed.
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“I am not recommended that we introduce broad-based mask mandates. Health chiefs met in the last few days and gave them this advice. In this phase of the pandemic, mask mandates and things like that are done better than There are mandates of masks in the care of the elderly, in health centers, in public transport, in airplanes, and if you are in an interior space full of people without the possibility of social distancing, you should have in consider using a mask “.
Butler said the government had kept to the plan to stop payments to people forced to isolate themselves with COVID-19 at the end of the year, but that this decision would be open to review.
“This is the decision taken by the old government and it is a decision that we have decided to follow as well.
“We have a trillion debts and at some point emergency payments of this kind have to be settled as we move into a new phase.”
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Coalition leader Simon Birmingham said financial support programs around the pandemic had finally come to an end.
“As a government, we put these measures in place to help Australia overcome COVID, they worked effectively, but we also showed determination to end them, such as JobKeeper, even when our political opponents at the time , the opposition Labor Party, are calling for JobKeeper to be expanded, “he told Sky News.
“I think it’s important to respect that there are end dates for these kinds of measures.”
Senator Birmingham, who was finance minister before this year’s election, said the Coalition could be open to supporting more financial measures if the government did so directly.
“We should not spend money that does not need to be spent. We need to end payments and extraordinary measures to ensure that the budget continues on the trajectory delivered by the coalition government, which was one of deficits that decreased significantly, ”he said.
“But if there are necessary measures in relation to public health and public hospitals, the government must be transparent about the advice it is receiving and how it is acting in relation to this advice.”
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