Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled a “new deal for Australians on the pathway out of COVID-19”.
The federal cabinet has agreed to a four-stage plan for Australia to move from trying to suppress COVID-19 back to how things were before the virus. Each new phase would be triggered by achieving a vaccination threshold expressed as a percentage of the eligible population.
There was no commitment to specific timelines around when the transitions will happen.
Mr. Morrison said on Friday the agreement was designed to enable an end to lockdowns and travel restrictions.
“If you get vaccinated, you get to change how we live as a country,” he told reporters.
The four-stage plan is based on modeling work by the Doherty Institute on how many people would need a jab for the Alpha and Delta COVID-19 variants. Early stages include trials for alternative quarantine options, such as home quarantine for returning vaccinated travelers.
The federal cabinet also agreed to cut commercial inbound passenger arrivals to all essential ports by 50 percent to reduce the pressure on quarantine facilities.
The full detail of the new four-stage plan are yet to be revealed, but here’s a look at what we know so far.
Phase one – ‘Pre-vaccination’
This is the stage Australia is in right now, Mr. Morrison said.
It involves the implementation of the national vaccination plan.
The federal cabinet agreed it should be used as a last resort, and the tria during this phase of alternative quarantine options would start during this phase.
The commonwealth’s existing Medicare vaccination certificate used to determine who has been inoculated will become easier to access through electronic devices such as phones.
A further review will also be conducted into the national hotel quarantine network.
Phase two – ‘Post-vaccination’
Then, Mr. Morrison said, “we will move into a phase where we seek to minimize serious illness, hospitalization, and fatality due to COVID-19″.
This would likely ease more restrictions, with lockdowns only occurring in “extreme circumstances” to prevent “escalating hospitalization and fatality”.
Inbound passenger caps would be restored to previous levels for unvaccinated returning travelers. Larger caps would be put in place for those who are vaccinated. New quarantine arrangements would be extended for vaccinated Australians based on the trials held in the first phase.
The federal cabinet agreed to cap entry of student and economical visa holders at this point, subject to quarantine availability. “I hope we’re living in that second phase next year. And you know, if we get an excellent response over this next year, let’s see how we go,” Mr. Morrison said.
Phase three – ‘Consolidation’
This phase aims to manage COVID-19 in line with public responses to other infectious diseases, such as the flu. That would mean “no lockdowns”, Mr. Morirson said, and hospitalization and fatality rates from COVID-19 would be similar to other well-controlled infections.
It would also see lifting restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated people and extending free travel bubbles for other countries. An increased cap allowing the entry of student economic and humanitarian visa holders would also be introduced.
