In its third meeting in four days, the Cabinet agreed anyone who has a fever or acute respiratory infection and meets one of the following criteria will now be eligible for testing:
- all health workers
- all aged/residential care workers
- geographically localised areas where there is elevated risk of community transmission as defined by the local public health unit
- where no community transmission is occurring, high risk settings where there are two or more plausibly-linked cases, for example:
- aged and residential care
- rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- detention centres/correctional facilities
- boarding schools
- military bases (including Navy ships) that have live-in accommodation.
The Cabinet also agreed to suspend all non-urgent elective surgery – seemingly an attempt to clear beds in anticipation of a wave of hospitalisations from the virus.
They next meet today (pictured is Prime Minister Scott Morrison who made the announcements).