Christmas restrictions not ruled out, but PM calls for calm

Scott Morrison has refused advice on sweeping mask mandates by the nation’s top medical adviser, while Victorian authorities have not ruled out a return of restrictions for the holidays.

The Prime Minister and leading epidemiologists have called for calm amid fears over the Omicron strain.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Scott Morrison declared: “We’re not going back to lockdowns, we’re not going back to shutting down people’s lives.”

He confirmed the national medical expert panel had provided a “strong recommendation about mask use inside”, which was “very sensible”.

But the Prime Minister said while the states would need to “continue to calibrate how we manage this virus” in the face of the Omicron variant, authorities also needed to ensure “Australians can live with” any new measures.

Mr Morrison said governments had to move from “a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility”.

“Australians know what is a common sense responsible action to look after their own health and the health of those around them,” he said.

A bustling Bourke St mall the week before Christmas. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We’ve got to get past the heavy hand of government and we’ve got to treat Australians like adults.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the states would “make their own decisions” about the expert panel’s mask advice, adding that there was a “very important role for masks” indoors.

Mr Morrison said he would not “front run” the advice of the expert immunisation panel as it considered bringing forward the interval for booster doses.

But he said it was clear booster shots “significantly assist” in protecting against Omicron.

There are five million doses ready to be administered at 8500 distribution points.

Nationwide, 37 people who have contracted the Omicron variant are in hospital. As of Tuesday afternoon, no one with Omicron has died or been admitted to intensive care in Australia.

Mr Morrison urged Australians to roll up their sleeves for booster vaccine doses if they were eligible.

So far, 1.4 million people have had a booster shot. Mr Morrison said another 4.3 million doses were ready to be ­administered.

“We have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, which means we can stare this latest Omicron variant down and we can keep Australia moving,” he said.

“We want to stay safe but we also want to stay safely open.”

The Prime Minister also called on states to reopen their mass vaccination hubs, revealing 200 clinics had been closed nationwide over the past two months.

The Herald Sun understands several states are also keen for the five-month time frame between second vaccine doses and booster shots to be reduced again.

Acting Premier James Merlino said the state government and their NSW counterparts would be urging Prime Minister Scott Morrison to shorten booster periods.

Senior government sources said on Monday night they expected the expert immunisation panel would be willing to bring forward the time frame for booster doses, possibly to as soon as three months after second doses.

Australia’s expert immunisation panel is reviewing the timing for boosters, as well as whether the third dose should be required for people to be considered fully vaccinated.

CHRISTMAS RESTRICTIONS NOT RULED OUT

Acting Premier James Merlino has refused to rule out whether more restrictions, such as mask mandates, would be implemented over the Christmas break.

Mr Merlino on Tuesday remained tight-lipped as to what restrictions were on the table, but said Christmas parties would not be impacted, despite the emerging threat of Omicron.

“There’s no restrictions on getting together with loved ones with family and friends to celebrate Christmas, to celebrate New Year, to enjoy the summer. None of those things are changing,” he said.

The Boxing Day Test and the upcoming Australian Open will also continue as planned with full capacity.

But Mr Merlino would not confirm if masks would be a requirement of attendance.

“Mask wearing is a prudent, commonsense measure,” he said.

“It can be inconvenient, but it’s a small inconvenience for a very significant public health benefit and we’re learning more and more about this new variant.

“It’s appropriate that not only governments take prudent commonsense steps, such as our decision to continue with the wearing of masks – it’s also that individuals and families take commonsense, prudent, personal decisions for themselves and their families.”

Masks could again be mandatory in most indoor settings. Picture: Ian Currie

The national medical expert panel is calling for masks to be mandated in most indoor settings, to pre-emptively limit Omicron’s spread.

The advice, sent to state and federal leaders on Monday night by federal chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly ahead of Wednesday’s national cabinet meeting, has recommended low-level restrictions including mandated masks indoors, including retail, hospitality and entertainment venues.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians backed the panel’s push for a sweeping mask mandate, and also called on authorities to introduce density limits at indoor public venues and events “for a few weeks until the risks of the Omicron variant are better understood”.

RACP president Professor John Wilson, a respiratory physician, urged people to avoid large indoor events “because they are the perfect environment for spreading this life-threatening virus”.

“The Omicron variant is highly transmissible and extra care is needed. If they can’t avoid large indoor events, people must make sure to follow social distancing measures and continue wearing masks,” he said.

Prof Wilson said the relaxing of restrictions in some states could have “dire consequences”.

chief health officer Brett Sutton is pushing for the return of tougher Covid restrictions. Picture: Sarah Matray

“While we don’t want to see families separated and communities impacted in the festive season, we are also wary of the increasing Covid-19 case numbers in states like NSW,” he said.

“If not checked a surge in cases will further burden our already exhausted health systems due to an overwhelming rise in hospitalisations.”

“Our advice to governments remains to listen to their respective public health officers and maintain the restrictions necessary to control the spread of the Omicron variant.”

But the state government is being urged not to go even further – with concerns church gatherings and bar crowds could be targeted – as Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton pushes for tougher Covid restrictions.

Despite Australia ­recording its first day since ­August without a death, and hospital admissions in Victoria remaining steady, senior sources close to government say Professor Sutton and some health experts are increasing the pressure to crank up ­restrictions.

Under Victoria’s new pandemic management laws, Professor Sutton can no longer make pandemic orders, with that power shifted to the Premier and Health Minister.

“This is the first serious test of the new laws. We were told the CHO wasn’t in control anymore. Let’s see if that’s true,” one senior source said.

“The only thing I see changing at the moment is masks, but the CHO is pushing for more.”

The state government has already backflipped on a pledge to ditch masks in retail settings on December 15, which it had committed to unless there was a major spike in hospitalisations.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier also said the government should urge Victorians to take personal responsibility rather than implementing new restrictions.

“It’s not what we signed up for. Victorians have done an amazing job in getting vaccinated. They just want to go into Christmas knowing that further restrictions won’t be put in place,” Ms Crozier said.

“The only reason that the government is considering this is because our health system isn’t up to scratch, and it should be.

“The government has had over 20 months to prepare our health system for any emerging variant. We shouldn’t be in this position. We shouldn’t have to have harsher restrictions if our health system could cope.”

Ms Crozier said it was time that Victorians were able to live with the virus.

“We’ve had the harshest of restrictions here in Victoria with the worst outcome,” she said.”

We have to start living with this virus. It’s not going away. We need to take some personal responsibility.”

The government recently backflipped on its promise to ease mask rules in retail. Picture: Mark Stewart

TOP DOC HOSES DOWN OMICRON FEARS

Infectious diseases specialist and former national deputy CHO Nick Coatsworth said he did not believe predictions of tens of thousands of Omicron cases a day were “accurate”.

Referencing low hospitalisation rates in South Africa, where Omicron first spread, he said: “All the emerging data is encouraging, all of it. The only thing that is not encouraging is how infectious it (Omicron) is.

“The people who are most worried about this in the scientific community were saying it’s early days four weeks ago and are still saying this. And both can’t be true. The key period will be the next seven days. We will be able to see how many of the 2500-odd testing positive every day (in NSW) are actually going into hospital.”

Mask restrictions were only recently rolled back. Picture: David Geraghty

In NSW, where the number of Omicron cases has exceeded 300, Premier Dominic Perrottet has resisted calls to backflip on a recent easing of restrictions, saying people should be treated “like adults”.

Peter Collignon, from ANU’s School of Clinical Medicine, said the road map should not be changed without the data to justify it.

“So far, I don’t think we have to push any panic buttons,” he said.

Hospital admission rates had not soared, which he would have expected if vaccines were not providing protection against Omicron, he said.

“Nowhere in Australia are we seeing hospitals filled with vaccinated people, nor I might say in South Africa or ­England,” he said.

“If you’re unvaccinated, yes, it’s a real worry because you can get sick and you can die but the answer to that is to get vaccinated.”

EXPERTS PLEAD FOR MORE TIME

In an open letter published on Monday, the Doherty Institute’s Sharon Lewin and the Kirby Institute’s John Kaldor and Greg Dore said more time was required to understand Omicron, urging a “short-term return to limited restrictions … while we wait for the information we need”. “What we know so far is the variant is highly transmissible, on a scale that may be well ­beyond that of Delta,” they wrote.

But its severity and the extent to which vaccines protected people were still unknown, they said. “Most straightforward is the return of indoor mask requirements, which represent a minimal imposition and cost virtually nothing,” they said.

Sources say state health officials are extremely concerned over updated Doherty Institute modelling. But a government spokesman said it would be a breach of the pandemic legislation to foreshadow any potential restrictions changes.

Masks are currently mandatory in retail and high-risk settings, including public transport. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang said: “The only measure that Victoria should be using before any consideration of the rolling back of freedoms is the pressure on our health system.

“That is a health system that should be robust and able to cope with well beyond the 81 people in ICU today. Given Mr Andrews himself promised 4000 ICU beds then Victoria should be a long way from any steps backwards.”

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra agreed the focus should be on hospitals.

“Governments have given Victorians the commitment that there won’t be more lockdowns. We should maintain the requirement to check in and wear masks where appropriate,” he said.

Originally published as Christmas restrictions not ruled out, but PM calls for calm