COVID rules ease as infection tallies rise
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Premiers are holding their nerve on COVID-19 restrictions ahead of Christmas amid rising infection tallies and more freedoms for the unvaccinated in Australia’s most populous states.
The same rules now apply to everyone in NSW even if they refuse to get the jab while Victoria is relaxing some restrictions for the unvaccinated.
Case numbers are soaring in parts of the country as border rules and quarantine requirements relax across the east coast.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigned in Queensland after being classified as a casual contact from a Sydney event on Friday.
He did not need to isolate and was cleared to host a dinner with visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in at Kirribilli House on Tuesday before jetting off to Brisbane.
Mr Morrison has so far returned two negative tests and is required to undergo a third.
“I’m one of the most tested-for-COVID prime ministers anywhere in the world and probably the most quarantined as well,” he told reporters in Brisbane.
“Before we came up here today, we ensured we were fully compliant with the Queensland rules.”
The state recorded six locally acquired infections on Wednesday.
This includes a man thought to have the Omicron variant who flew from Newcastle to Brisbane and then Townsville.
Everyone on the two flights was initially classified as close contacts required to quarantine for 14 days.
But health authorities reclassified everyone bar the passengers seated within two rows of the man as casual contacts only required to isolate until they test negative.
From Friday, unvaccinated Queenslanders will be subject to a widespread lockout from public life.
Meanwhile, daily infections in NSW are anticipated by that government to reach up to 25,000 by late January.
It recorded 1360 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily tally in three months.
There was also one more death as quarantine rules were eased for some close contacts.
Both NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and the prime minister urged people to focus on hospital and intensive care numbers, not daily case numbers.
“There’s nothing to suggest at the moment that the Omicron variant has a more serious outcome than the Delta variant. If anything, it’s the alternative,” Mr Morrison said.
“We cannot go back to where we were. That’s not sustainable. That will impact and injure Australians.”
Rural Doctors Association president Megan Belot warned it remained a good idea to wear masks indoors, when social distancing was not possible, and check in when visiting shops.
Dr Belot also recommended celebrating outdoors and staying home if there are even the mildest symptoms of the virus.
In the ACT, quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated close contacts of Omicron cases have been halved to seven days.
The national capital recorded seven new cases, while its number of confirmed Omicron infections grew to 14.
South Australia reported 26 new COVID-19 cases and Tasmania reopened to fully vaccinated travellers from hotspot areas.
Nearly 90 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older are fully vaccinated.
An estimated 235,000 visa holders, including 133,000 students, are eligible to enter the country following its long-awaited international border relaxation.
But cruise ships remain locked out after the federal government extended a raft of pandemic biosecurity measures until February 17.
