Fully vaccinated Victorians who are identified as close contacts of a COVID-19 case will no longer be required to quarantine for two weeks under new rules which came into effect yesterday (21 October).
Announced by Minister for Health, Martin Foley, the new measures are based on the advice of the Chief Health Officer and follow the State reaching its 70 per cent vaccination target.
Mr Foley said non-household Primary Close Contacts (PCCs) who were fully vaccinated would only need to quarantine for seven days.
“This change will also apply to industry, where all workplace primary close contacts will be required to isolate for seven days if they are fully vaccinated,” Mr Foley said.
“Household and unvaccinated PCCs will still be required to isolate for 14 days,” he said.
“PCCs required to isolate for seven days will need to return negative test results on both day one and day six of their quarantine.”
Mr Foley said critical industries such as health services and supermarkets would maintain their own furlough arrangements, which were developed based on public health advice and in recognition of their unique settings.
The Minister said household contacts of a positive case would still be subject to the 14-day isolation period as they had the highest risk of infection, with an average 45 per cent of all household PCCs testing positive even when fully vaccinated, “a far greater risk of infection than Tier 1 PCCs”.
He said double-dosed vaccination against COVID-19 resulted in a significant reduction in the chances of becoming infected and the changes to quarantine protocols were only possible because so many Victorians had come forward to get vaccinated.
“As more Victorians get vaccinated, more changes like this can be made to help us get back to normal,” he said.
“Work is also underway by public health experts on a broader review of isolation protocols, as Victoria moves towards 80 per cent double dose and beyond,” Mr Foley said.
