The Health Minister has emphasised that there will be ‘no going back’ once restrictions are lifted, with any potential outbreaks to be subject to “localised rings of containment”.

“That is the model we have for Australia. If there is a suburban, facility-based, or regional outbreak, we want those localised rings of containment,” he said.

Mr Hunt added that it would only be “if there was systemic, statewide” community transmission that a state or territory would return to a lockdown.

“At this stage the belief is that it’s highly unlikely,” he said.

As we covered here, Anglicare CEO Grant Millard has publicly stated that in hindsight, he believes the COVID positive residents at Newmarch House should have been sent to hospitals.

We understand in South Australia, providers have been negotiating with the State Government there for any resident who tests positive in the future to be transferred immediately to hospital.

There is an argument to be made that Australia now has the capacity to care for aged care residents in hospitals – the number of ventilators across the country is now at 7,500, up from 2,200 at the start of the pandemic, just two months ago.

On the other side, there is also the well-known risk that residents may recover but experience the deterioration associated with hospital admissions.

We asked the Department of Health if the Government would transfer residents to hospital or keep them in a home in the event of any future outbreaks, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

We will keep you posted.