Page 705 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 5 April 2022
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With effect from 11.59 pm on 4 April, air crew are no longer required to undergo COVID-19 testing if their next flight out of Australia is within 48 hours of entry. In addition, all travellers under the age of 18 years who are not fully vaccinated and arriving with a fully vaccinated traveller or are unaccompanied will be regarded as fully vaccinated and not subject to quarantine requirements. However, testing requirements will still apply.
Fully vaccinated travellers diagnosed with COVID-19 in the 13 weeks prior to their travel to Australia will also no longer need to undergo an arrival test. Changes have also been made to the definition of a recovered COVID-19 case to reflect updated advice from the Communicable Diseases Network Australia. A person who has recovered from COVID-19 is no longer required to comply with quarantine or isolation requirements for a period of 12 weeks following the date of their clearance from isolation. Previously this was eight weeks.
There has also been some streamlining to the administrative processes for seeking an exemption from mandatory vaccination requirements due to medical reasons. Medical practitioners can issue a nationally recognised exemption on the Australian immunisation register, and this will be accepted for the purposes of an exemption from the direction. There is no longer a requirement for individuals to submit a separate form to ACT Health. The processes for seeking an exemption on non-medical grounds remain the same.
The ACT has updated the standing exemption for essential workers under the Public Health (Diagnosed People and Household Contacts) Emergency Direction 2022, with effect from 11.59 pm on 1 April, to include community pharmacy workers. This is in addition to previously exempted food and grocery support, freight and transport workers, and veterinary workers.
Community pharmacy workers include a pharmacist at a community pharmacy or a person who is employed by or engaged by a community pharmacy. Under the current standing exemption, an essential worker is only eligible to return to work if they are employed in an industry specified as essential under the standing exemption, have advised their employer they are a household contact and are approved to return to work, consent to returning to work, are unable to perform their duties from home and the employer has determined their absence from the workplace creates a high risk to critical service delivery, are asymptomatic and have returned a negative COVID-19 test result since becoming aware of their status as a household contact, and continue to undertake daily rapid antigen tests until the end of their quarantine period.
Eligible essential workers who return to work must comply with a set of conditions. They must travel directly between their quarantine premises and place of work, not attend public places other than for work purposes or in an emergency, wear a face mask when leaving their premises in accordance with public health directions, and continue to comply with existing quarantine and testing requirements under the direction when not at work.
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