Australia has said it will end mandatory isolation requirements for those infected with COVID from next month.
Currently anyone who tests positive for the virus must self-isolate for five days, but this will end from October 14.
Nicknamed “Fortress Australia”, the country has had some of the strictest restrictions in the world since the start of the pandemic.
Australia’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, said the “emergency phase” of its response was probably over. But Kelly said the decision “in no way suggests that the pandemic is over.”
Mandatory isolation had been one of the few remaining restrictions.
Australia continues to record about 5,500 cases of the virus every day, official figures show, and is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world.