Mr Morrison said the Delta variant was proving to be far more contagious than any other variant of the virus,and people will now require a COVID-19 test two to three days after leaving quarantine.
“If you’ve left hotel quarantine or quarantine up at the Howard Springs facility,two to three days later,after having left that quarantine facility,get a test,we will be requiring it by the arrangements we put in place,” he said.
National cabinet also agreed all quarantine workers needed to be vaccinated and regularly tested for COVID-19,and made testing and vaccinations available for household contacts of those workers.
High-risk international quarantine residents will also be separated from domestic residents.
State and territory leaders went into the meeting seeking answers on the speed of the country’s vaccine rollout and were pushing for more vaccines and a lower cap on international arrivals as cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant grow around the country.
The Prime Minister said there were no requests in the meeting for additional vaccines.
Australia has fully vaccinated less than 5 per cent of the population against COVID-19,ranking last of the 37 OECD countries according totracking from the UK’s Global Change Data Lab.
To date,more than 7.37 million vaccines have been administered across the country,including first and second doses.
The meeting also included a briefing from Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly on the state of the outbreaks and the Delta variant,and a briefing from Lieutenant-General John Frewen on vaccine stocks and the rollout.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said before the meeting he was in favour of making vaccines mandatory for aged care workers,but Pfizer should be made available for all workers regardless of their age and there needed to be a proper educational campaign.
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“I support it but I just want to make sure it’s a uniform approach across Australia and we don’t have any adverse consequence that is difficult to manage,” he said. “The one concern about it is that some people will leave the workforce.”
Late on Monday,McGowan announced that a third case of COVID-19 had been recorded in the state,andplaced the Perth and Peel region into a four-day lockdown from midnight.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also reiterated the state needed more doses to meet the significant demand,and said more GPs should be brought into the rollout.
NSW,which recorded 18 new cases to 8pm on Sunday,has used 98 per cent of its vaccine allocation.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also flagged current vaccine supplies as a problem,adding that the only way out of the pandemic was to have a “significant percentage” of the population vaccinated. The state has used 91 per cent of its vaccine supplies.
“No one can be happy with the way this vaccine has been rolled out. We’ve got supply problems,” Mr Andrews said in his first media appearance since returning to the job following an injury.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also called for the cap on international arrivals to be lowered,after the state recorded two new cases. Mr Andrews said it was important to look at quarantine caps.
Vaccine Operations Centre boss Commodore Eric Young said states,territories and GPs would see a “moderate increase” of Pfizer doses over the course of July as more GPs move to provide that vaccine as well as AstraZeneca.
“There’s a gradual ramp-up through July,” he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the issues being canvassed by national cabinet should have been cleared up months ago,and he wants to see Prime Minister Scott Morrison outline how the vaccination rate could be increased.
“Scott Morrison had two jobs this year,he had to effectively roll out the vaccine,and he had to implement a system of national quarantine. He’s failed both,” Mr Albanese said.
The national cabinet review of where high and low-risk travellers are housed in quarantine comes after a mine worker who quarantined near international travellers caught the coronavirus before travelling to a gold mine in the Northern Territory. Now six cases have been linked to that mine cluster,including one mine worker who had returned to Queensland.