Home quarantine rapid testing will bring Australians closer to international travel

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked the country’s medical regulator to urgently consider the widespread use of rapid antigen testing in workplaces and for home use as the federal government presses ahead with plans to allow Australians to travel overseas by the end of the year.

Rapid antigen testing is used in many contexts overseas including in the US and Britain as a way of monitoring COVID-19 cases but has not yet been broadly deployed as a weapon against the virus in Australia.

Rapid antigen tests will become part of testing in workplaces and homes in the near future, the health minister says.Credit:Kate Geraghty

Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan advised people to get ready for mobile phone apps that would trace their location, a necessary device, she said, if the country embraced home quarantine.

Mr Hunt said introducing home-based testing and quarantine, as well as the digital vaccination certificate and a new digital border pass, would bring Australians closer to overseas travel.

“We want to see Australians to be able to travel overseas at the earliest possible time,” he said on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m hopeful that these tests will be available at the earliest possible time for workplaces, and then subsequently, once we have the support of the AHPPC [Australian Health Protection Principal Committee], within the home,” he said.

Of the eligible population aged 16 and over, 68.5 per cent have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 43.2 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated.

New modelling from the Doherty Institute will be unveiled at national cabinet on Friday which will reinforce the four-phase national plan to start opening up when 70 per cent of the eligible population is vaccinated. It is expected to provide more evidence that it is safe to move into phase B and C of the plan even with the higher case load and the Delta strain in Victoria and NSW.

The institute will also be asked to model the effect of increasing the number of international passengers coming into the country under phases C and D of the plan, according to senior government sources.

The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force is also in the early stages of devising a two-zone system at the country’s airports whereby countries with relatively low COVID-19 cases would be marked “green” and nations with a higher number of cases would be “red”.

Key to raising international arrival caps is the introduction of home quarantine.

Ms McMillan said relying on police to visit people in home quarantine required a lot of resources and could be replaced by mobile phone apps using geolocation technology to ensure people remained in isolation.

“We’ll see the increased use of technology, as we’ve seen with things like the COVID app and the check-ins,” she said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week wrote to all state and territory leaders asking them to set timetables for their introduction of home quarantine and wants to hear from them at national cabinet this week on their plans.

South Australia has already begun a home-based quarantine trial whereby people have to download the Home Quarantine SA app to access their testing schedule, complete daily symptom checks and confirm their location with regular check-ins.

Mr Hunt said the states and territories already know how to do home quarantine well.

“The South Australian home quarantine app is a real breakthrough, and does provide a pathway forwards,” Mr Hunt said.

The states and territories will be aided by a new digital border pass which will apply to all travellers entering the country and will be introduced within months.

The Digital Passenger Declaration - which will replace the physical Incoming Passenger Card and the digital COVID-19 Australian Travel Declaration form - will be designed so it can pass on information to state and territory public health authorities for them to track people entering the jurisdiction and potentially use it for contact tracing.

The DPD will link in with COVID-19 vaccination certificates that will be introduced by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade later this month and work alongside the state-based home quarantine applications.

Anthony Galloway is foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.

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