New Covid wave is on its way, so why are we easing restrictions, asks AMA
Australia’s peak medical body has warned it’s too early to scrap COVID-19 isolation requirements, with the nation likely to be hit by another wave of infections.
National cabinet has agreed to dump the five-day isolation period for positive cases, with the changes to take effect on October 14.
Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson told AAP it was too early to ease the protections.
āAll the signs are that weāre looking at another wave of COVID,ā he said.
āWeāre coming out of one of the biggest waves of COVID yet and it has absolutely crushed hospital workforce and left us with a massive logjam and backlog in hospitals at the moment that has to be dealt with.
āIf we have another wave over the holiday season, then it spells bad news for the country because we canāt tackle that backlog.ā
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Professor Robson said information from the northern hemisphere showed newer variants of the virus wouldnāt be affected by immunity from previous infection or from vaccinations.
āWeāre seeing a major wave beginning again in the northern hemisphere. Weāre very concerned that this doesnāt happen in Australia,ā he said.
Meanwhile, Australiaās former deputy chief medical officer has called for guidelines on COVID-19 vaccines for children to be reviewed.
Dr Nick Coatsworth said experts in the UK were no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children aged between five and 11, while Sweden was not recommending jabs for those aged 12 to 17.
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In Australia, COVID-19 vaccines are recommended for everyone aged over five.
āIf youāre a healthy child or adolescent, the benefit of the COVID vaccine just isnāt there,ā Dr Coatsworth told Sydney radio 2GB.
Fresh data for NSW and Victoria, released on Friday, show that weekly case numbers and deaths continue to fall in the countryās two most populous states.
The federal health department will release its weekly COVID-19 case notifications report on Friday.
WEEKLY VIRUS DATA BY JURISDICTION
* NSW: 10,767 new cases, 41 deaths
* Victoria: 9230 new cases, 43 deaths
* ACT: 536 new cases, zero deaths
* Queensland: 7970 new cases, 14 deaths
* NT: 279 new cases, 73 deaths
* South Australia: 2720 new cases, 93 deaths
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