State and territory leaders have agreed to trial home quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers returning to Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said national cabinet had agreed the South Australian pilot program would take place “as soon as possible”.
However, he offered few details on how many people would be included in the trial.
“South Australia has indicated their intention to go forward as the jurisdiction for that trial,” he said.
“It will be a two-week trial based on the advice from the medical panel.”
The South Australian government had previously said it would not agree to host the trial unless it was approved by SA Health.
Mr Morrison said it would be a “transparent project” and information learned would be shared with other states and territories.
Last week, chief medical officer Paul Kelly said testing had shown seven days of home quarantine could deliver “very similar” outcomes to 14 days in hotel quarantine.
State and territory leaders also agreed to introduce public health order making coronavirus vaccines mandatory for aged-care workers. Victoria, was the standout, because responsibility for public health orders in that state lies with the chief health officer, rather than the premier.
“There were also papers received from the medical expert panel that dealt with the vaccination of disability care workers,” Mr Morrison said.
“While they are not at this point recommending mandating vaccines for disability care workers, they are strongly recommending [the vaccines].”
Requiring mobility workers, air transport and those in other transport sectors to be vaccinated was also discussed, but not yet agreed on.
-more to come
Read More: National cabinet backs home quarantine trial