Canberra, December 30, : , Australian leaders agreed to a revised definition of Covid-19 close contact on Thursday in an effort to ease pressure at testing sites throughout the country.According to Xinhua, Prime Minister Scott Morrison had met with state and territory leaders to discuss Australia’s response to the escalating Covid-19 infection rate and the newly developed Omicron variant.
Following the national cabinet meeting, Morrison said the nation’s leaders agreed to introduce a new nationally-consistent definition of a virus close contact.
The changes mean that anyone who spends more than 4 hours in close proximity to a confirmed case will not be allowed to enter a home or similar setting.
The existing test centres will still be able to offer PCR tests.However, RATs (rapid Antigen Tests) are increasingly being used in the coming weeks.
Morrison explained to reporters that you can only be considered a close friend if you live with or have been living in an accommodation with another person for more than four hours with someone with Covid.
“If you’re a close contact, you get a rapid antigen test.
If the test results are negative, then you will be kept isolated for seven days.On day six you’ll have another rapid antigen test.
This is despite increasing demands for testing across the country.Many people spend days in quarantine waiting to receive their results.
On Thursday there were more than 21,000 cases reported in Australia, which means that the country had more cases than ever before for 2020.
Thus, the new caseload is now at 362,691.
Australia reported another 15 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday.This brings the total number of pandemic deaths in Australia to 2,225.
The death of a Covid positive child less than two years old in South Australia (SA) was one example.
According to the Department of Health, 94.3 percent of Australians over 16 years old had already received one dose of vaccines, while 91.3 percent were inoculated fully.
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