Victoria to roll back Covid-19 restrictions 'quite soon'
Victorians could join other Australians for the easing of Covid-19 rules, with Premier Daniel Andrews eyeing changes to check-in codes.
"The use of QR codes is under very active review at the moment, as are all of our rules and we hope to make some announcements quite soon," the premier told reporters on Sunday.
"Now that we've hit the peak of Omicron, now those cases are coming down, we do have some room to make some refinements and adjustments."
Mr Andrews said Victoria aimed to be in lockstep with NSW on rules and the state's northern neighbour was planning to ease check in requirements by the end of February.
Queensland has already scrapped check-ins at venues where proof of vaccination is not required, such as supermarkets, retail outlets, hairdressers and gyms.
"We don't have many rules on at the moment but we can further streamline those," Mr Andrews said.
Victoria's density limits also being reviewed, he noted.
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"QR coding at the moment is not being used for the purposes of contact tracing because there is no contact tracing.
"What it's used for at the moment is to validate that a person has the green tick (vaccination) and can be in certain locations. For consistency's sake, QR coding still operates in some settings where you don't need to be vaccinated, like the local supermarket."
Victoria sees drop in Covid cases, deaths
Victoria on Sunday reported 18 Covid-19 deaths and 7223 infections.
Of the new cases revealed, 4859 were detected through rapid antigen tests and 2364 via PCR lab testing.
Health authorities say the state is now managing a touch under 55,000 active cases in total. There are 465 people in Victorian hospitals, 22 fewer than the day before.
Of these, 181 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, 17 of them currently requiring ventilation.
Victoria on Saturday achieved a 50 per cent triple vaccination rate for eligible recipients and Mr Andrews encouraged people to keep lining up for a booster.
With hospitalisations having halved since late January, the Victorian government has moved to lift a 'code brown' pandemic alert issued for the health system.
The measure has been in place for more than three weeks and will be lifted at midday on Monday.
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