COVID-19 isolation rules scrapped by national cabinet; Suspect arrested over LA

“We will almost certainly see future peaks of the virus into the future, as we have seen earlier in this year,” he said.

“However, at the moment, we have very low rates of both cases, hospitalisations, intensive care admissions, aged-care outbreaks and various other measures.”

Kelly said isolation requirements could return under certain circumstances, such as the emergence of a new variant.

But he said it was the right move to make now.

“It is time to move away from COVID exceptionalism, in my view, and thinking about what we should do to protect people from any respiratory disease,” he said.

“That does not mean we have somehow magically changed the infectiousness of this virus. It is still infectious.”

PM Albanese confirmed the decision had been unanimously backed by National Cabinet.