Fully jabbed Victorians can skip quarantine when travelling to South Australia from next Tuesday.South Australian premier Steven Marshall announced the changes on Friday — that also come into effect for travellers from NSW — after the state and federal governments corrected a statistical error that “significantly” underreported interstate vaccine rates.Mr Marshall said the governments had crunched new numbers and fixed the error in a bid to reassure permitted interstate travellers that they would be granted entry into South Australia.From November 23, Victorians entering South Australia must adhere to the state’s new online traveller registration process EntryCheckSA, which went live on Friday afternoon.Only travellers entering South Australia from LGAs with a double jab rate below 80 per cent amid community Covid transmission would still have to isolate.All other travellers will be free to enter the state provided they return a negative Covid test within 72 hours of their arrival.Victorian travellers must also check for Covid symptoms daily using a new app called HealthCheck.Meanwhile, Victoria’s isolation orders have been overhauled with the length of quarantine for positive cases and close contacts reduced.It comes as Victoria recorded 1273 new Covid cases overnight and eight deaths, with 88.5 per cent of the state now fully vaccinated.And Queensland could open its borders for interstate travel from as early as December 6, nearly two weeks earlier than initially announced.Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s road map to easing travel restrictions originally flagged December 17 as the target for 80 per cent vaccine coverage.But acting chief health officer Peter Aitken said the state is on track to reach that target much earlier than expected, which will allow new freedoms of movement.When arriving from a hotspot once 80 per cent vaccine rate is reached, fully vaccinated people will be allowed to drive or fly into Queensland if they have proof of a negative Covid-19 test from within 72 hours of travel.VICTORIANS TO DO OWN CONTACT TRACINGThe health department will dumps its list of exposure sites, and tasked those diagnosed with Covid with doing their own contact tracing.As revealed by the Herald Sun, Victorians who’ve had the jab and come into contact with a confirmed case will only need to isolate until they have returned a negative test.Positive cases will only need to quarantine for 10 days, down from two weeks. But they will be required to notify friends, family, their workplaces, schools and childcare centres about their infection.It will then become the responsibility of workplaces and schools to notify potential contacts and implement testing protocols where required.Personal contacts of a positive case will not be traced or monitored by the Department of Health, and exposure sites will no longer be published online.Instead, a new alert function on the Service Victoria app – used to check-in at venues – will notify patrons of higher-risk venues like restaurants, gyms and nightclubs.Health Minister Martin Foley said while tracing efforts had changed, the Department would continue to manage significant outbreaks. “They’ll continue to work with those locations to make sure we avoid the super spreader events into the future,” he said.Household members who have had more than four hours of contact with an infectious person must still isolate for seven days if fully vaccinated, or 14 days if unvaccinated.Children under 12, who can’t yet get vaccinated but who are deemed household contacts, will be treated as if they are fully jabbed, provided their entire household has had two doses.They will be required to get a standard test on day 0 and another test in order to be released.Acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said keeping strict and lengthy isolation orders in place would have a “very small impact on the trajectory of the pandemic but would clearly represent very significant ongoing restrictions”. “We feel it’s no longer proportionate to retain those settings,” Professor Cowie said. The reduction has been welcomed by key industry figures who feared quarantine stints could lead to significant product shortages in the lead- up to Christmas. Australian Industry Group Victorian head Tim Piper said it was crucial that “as many people as possible” were on the factory floor to manufacture key supplies. Speaking on Neil Mitchell’s 3AW program, Covid Response Commander Jeroen Weimar said the government was working towards improving the Services Victoria App so a dependent’s vaccine certificate can be uploaded.Currently, anyone under the age of 15 is unable to create a Medicare account, meaning those in the 12 to 15 age bracket cannot upload their vaccine certificate to the app.But anyone aged 12 and over must show proof of vaccination to enter retail, hospitality, events and other venues in Victoria. Mr Weimar said parents would soon be able to upload their child’s vaccine certificate to the app, but can print a digital certificate in the meantime. “Children need to be part of this vaccination program for their own protection but also so they can fully participate again,” Mr Weimar said.He added children aged 12 to 15 were “critical” in helping Victoria achieve its vaccine target and said almost 90 per cent of Victorian children in this age group have had at least one dose of the vaccine.When asked why a person must be fully vaccinated to visit a pub but not an aged care facility, Mr Weimar clarified that aged care was grouped in with home visits and private gathering rules. “Aged care are the homes of people,” Mr Weimar said.A person does not have to be vaccinated to visit someone else’s home, meaning an unvaccinated person can visit an aged care home without having to show their vaccine status, despite it being deemed a high risk setting by the government.However, residents at care facilities can only have up to five visitors per day including dependents, according to the Health Department website.Mr Weimar also encouraged councils to go ahead with their planned Christmas celebrations, including local Christmas carols. Victoria’s new Covid rulesVICTORIA WELCOMES POST-COVID NORMALLife has virtually returned to normal for the more than five million fully vaccinated Victorians, as masks are thrown off, dance floors reopened and density limits scrapped. Almost all Covid-19 restrictions were lifted at 11.59pm on Thursday, with the state powering towards its 90 per cent double dose milestone, likely to be hit over the weekend.Daniel Andrews on Thursday unveiled the most significant freedoms yet, dropping the caps on home visitors and all density limits for retail, concerts and events.Indoor dance floors will return for the first time in six months – including at weddings and nightclubs – while the only limit burdening hospitality venues will be the liquor licence. Up to 100,000 people are set to pack into the Boxing Day Test for the first time since the pandemic hit, while the Australian Open can host a full house.“So many of these rules, almost all of them, can fall away. They are no longer needed,” the Premier said.“We are one of the most vaccinated places in the world, and that means we are one of the safest places in the world. And we should be one of the proudest places in the world. “If you’re fully vaccinated, your life will return back to normal … You will be able to enjoy all of the things that you have yearned for, and missed.”Masks will only be required in high-risk settings, including in hospitals, aged-care homes and on public transport.The doors to non-essential retail stores have closed to the unvaccinated except those with a valid exemption or children aged under 12 years and two months.Acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said the state’s high vaccination rate had paved the way for the return to Covid-normal life.“Today, we begin living with Covid-19 as a long-term but manageable part of all of our lives,” Professor Cowie said. “All of us, at some stage, will know someone that’s had Covid, or we may well get Covid ourselves.“There is no denying that Victorians have faced very serious challenges over the course of the last two years but we are now in a very different set of circumstances. We are living in a safe and balanced way so that we can enjoying living in a safe and open society.”That recognition couldn’t have come sooner for businesses that have struggled to stay afloat during almost two years of lockdowns.Sorrento’s Ocean Beach Pavilion manager Dilan Kay said it was surreal to finally operate in normal circumstances again, including allowing vertical drinking. “It’s been such a tough period so we’re just thrilled to be back,” he said.Australian Hotels Association chief executive Paddy O’Sullivan said: “It’s been a long and costly journey for Victoria’s pubs and hotels.”Melbourne’s night-life is bracing for the biggest weekend in years, with Chapel St Precinct general manager Chrissie Maus declaring it’ll be the busiest in a decade.Rock and roll dancers Jon and Zoe Hannon said they were “beyond excited” to see dance floors packed again. “It’s our happy place,” Mr Hannon said. Australian Industry Group Victorian head Tim Piper said the shift to normalcy would make a “significant difference” to the general wellbeing of local businesses. “Victoria has finally reached the stage where we can feel unrestricted and return to most of the freedoms that we have been missing,” Mr Piper said.“This will provide a great boost of confidence in the lead in to Christmas.”Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said it was finally time to properly enjoy the state again. “Get to the shops, get to the office, get to an event, get to the theatre, get to a cafe, get to a restaurant, and get to your holiday location, ”he said.Victoria Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani predicted the long-suffering tourism and events sector could look to the new year with confidence.HOTEL QUARANTINE SCALED DOWNVictoria’s hotel quarantine program will be scaled down in the coming weeks as the state surpasses its 90 per cent vaccination target.Five hotels will cease to operate as quarantine facilities by November 30, with another two set to close on December 27.These include Mantra Tullamarine, Four Points Hotel, Holiday Inn Airport, Novotel South Wharf and the Intercontinental Hotel, followed by the Novotel on Collins and Stamford Plaza.The move is expected to save the government more than $1 million this financial year.Covid Quarantine Victoria commissioner Emma Cassar said the closure is part of the transition to living with Covid-19.“CQV has always adapted to changing needs as the pandemic has evolved and we thank all our staff for their continued dedication to keeping our state safe,” Ms Cassar said.“The combined impact of the reduction in demand for quarantine accommodation and staff attrition means that we are able to reduce the number of hotels in the program sooner than anticipated.”CVQ initially planned to begin closing hotels in February 2022, when the first beds become available at the new Victorian Quarantine Hub in Mickleham, but the “significant reduction” in overseas travellers allowed them to bring the exit plan forward.CVQ said a significant cohort of the hotel quarantine workforce is returning to work in the aviation industry while they anticipate all other current staff will keep their jobs or be redeployed until the Mickleham quarantine facility opens.Several hotels will continue to house international arrivals until early next year.The Element Hotel Richmond, Holiday Inn Flinders St, Pullman Albert Park, Mercure Welcome, Novotel Ibis, Pullman on Swanston, and Mantra Epping will exit the quarantine program between February and April 2022.
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