“Too early” to scrap mandatory isolation for Australian COVID-19 cases: medical association

CANBERRA, Oct. 7– Australia’s peak medical body has pushed back against the decision to end COVID-19 mandatory isolation periods. The Australian Medical Association on Friday said it was “too early” to make the move, warning it would trigger another wave of coronavirus infections. “All the signs are that we’re looking at another wave of COVID,” he told the Australian…

CANBERRA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — Australia’s peak medical body has pushed back against the decision to end COVID-19 mandatory isolation periods.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) on Friday said it was “too early” to make the move, warning it would trigger another wave of coronavirus infections.

Federal, state and territory leaders late in September agreed to end mandatory isolation requirements for COVID-19, which will come into effect on Oct. 14, with each jurisdiction implementing the change via relevant public health legislation.

Commenting on the decision, AMA President Steve Robson said he was “very concerned” about another wave.

“All the signs are that we’re looking at another wave of COVID,” he told the Australian Associated Press.

“We’re coming out of one of the biggest waves of COVID yet and it has absolutely crushed hospital workforce and left us with a massive logjam and backlog in hospitals at the moment that has to be dealt with.

“If we have another wave over the holiday season, then it spells bad news for the country because we can’t tackle that backlog.”

The Department of Health on Friday provided updates on national COVID-19 weekly current trends.

“Over the last week, 36,242 cases of COVID-19 were reported across Australia, an average of 5,177 cases per day,” it said on its website.

The number of cases being treated in hospitals at a seven-day average is 1,548. Enditem