STA, 10 April 2022 - The government advisory group for coronavirus has proposed that the indoor mask mandate be lifted once the number of Covid patients in intensive care is below 35 for seven consecutive days.
The figure would include all Covid patients in intensive care, those treated because of Covid-19 and those who are in intensive care for other conditions but are also Covid positive, Mateja Logar, the head of the advisory group, told the STA on Sunday.
This week the number of Covid patients in intensive care remained below 40 before rising to 42 today. The last time there were fewer than 35 ICU patients with Covid was in August last year.
Logar hopes the target figure will be achieved in seven to ten days. Add to that the seven consecutive days that the number must remain below the limit, and the restriction could be lifted in two weeks at the earliest.
Masks would remain mandatory in hospitals and aged care facilities.
The proposal is yet to be approved by the government.
The indoor mask mandate is one of the few restrictions still in place, most others were lifted once the Omicron-driven wave subsided.
While daily new cases remain fairly high compared to previous lulls in the epidemic, hospital numbers have been dropping.
