Australia’s National Cabinet has decided that PCR tests will no longer be needed to confirm the result of a positive rapid test.

Meanwhile, some concession holders will get free home tests, but they won’t be free for everybody as the country deals with a major testing crisis with more than 68,000 new cases recorded between states.

Morrison said that it’s not the case numbers that matter but that “people are connected to care”.

The changes to testing requirements come as testing site chaos and Rapid Antigen Test scarcity are likely to be creating an inaccurate landscape when it comes to monitoring numbers.

University of Melbourne epidemiologist Prof Tony Blakely said surveillance numbers would no longer make sense.

“The horse has bolted, this is the biggest policy failure so far in Australia,” he stressed, adding that “we also haven’t thought about how you can load up that data to the surveillance system, so we won’t get that in place in the next couple of weeks”.
Similarly, infectious disease expert Prof Peter Collignon highlighted that the situation had changed, as this is an entirely new predicament causing unprecedented pressure to the health system.

On that, Morrison argued the whole world, has been in a similar situation.

“As I said yesterday, there are plenty of armchair critics and people who’ve said what could have been, but those who are actually doing it every day, and the health officials who have responsibility for it every day, those who are regulating vaccines – which have very profound implications for people’s health – and I don’t accept the suggestion that they haven’t been doing their job,” Morisson stressed as businesses worry if the will be able to reopen due to staff shortages.

“I think they’ve been doing their job extremely well and under extraordinary pressure in a very uncertain environment. There’s no guidebook to Covid. We all know that. So what I think’s important is the country just focuses on the task ahead. Keep looking through that windscreen. That’s where I’m looking. We’re looking forward,” the PM said.

  • These statement come as NSW reached 34,994 new cases and six deaths with 1,609 people in hospital, and 131 in intensive care units.
  • In Victoria there were also six deaths and 21,997 new cases. Victoria also has a positivity rate from testing of about one in three. 631 people are in hospital with 51 in intensive care.

Both Victoria and NSW have a positivity test rate of one in three which is worrisome.

  • Tasmania has reported 751 new Covid cases, which is a drop from the record 867 cases reported yesterday. One person has been admitted to hospital.
  • Queensland detected 10,332 cases in the 24 hours to 7pm last night. One person has died, bringing the state’s total deaths during the pandemic to nine. Sadly, 284 people are in hospital, 12 in intensive care and two require ventilators.
  • WA recorded five new cases linked to Perth bars.