Household contacts of a positive COVID-19 cases may not need to isolate under the new regulations that are being considered by the National Cabinet. The latest information provided by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) on Omicron and any early signs of flu is being used as well as the likelihood of expected hospitalisations for both COVID-19 and influenza to re-model the current COVID-19 contact winter preparedness plans.
Discussions are being had around a plan to replace mandatory PCR testing for close contacts with mild coronavirus symptoms to a plan that instead reads “voluntary self-isolation”. The Actuaries Institute’s Jennifer Lang does not predict higher than average number of flu deaths in 2022 even after the bad influenza season in 2019 that saw 313,033 laboratory confirmed cases and 953 deaths.