Hong Kong scraps controversial COVID travel ruleīut while other countries distribute free rapid antigen tests (RATs), national cabinet has moved only to subsidise RATs for concession card holders, or people with symptoms or who are close contacts.Īdam Ellston spent about $300 on RATs when his daughter had COVID-19 and would welcome cheaper, more available test kits.Australians living longer but with more chronic disease, COVID 'excess deaths' jump.Fourth-dose boosters offered for all people over 30.The government also has a scheme that helps small and medium-sized businesses to access guaranteed loans from lenders if its revenue has been affected by the pandemic. The federal government provides income support to people who lose work and who have no leave entitlements if they have to isolate as a result of the pandemic. In Professor McKibbin's view, the government should support small businesses that have experienced a drop in cash flow with measures such as loans repaid through the tax system. He wanted to see a broad strategy to support the economy through what he believed would be recurring waves "for many, many years". He said it was not shutdowns that caused the greatest economic loss, but rather how people changed their behaviour while in a pandemic. "Small businesses are haemorrhaging, and there's no government support," he said. Professor Warwick McKibbin of the ANU's Crawford School of Public Policy said small businesses, which generate most of the jobs in Australia's economy, were being squeezed from both sides by worker shortages and slower spending. The monthly ANZ and Roy Morgan survey, released earlier this week, also showed consumer confidence had dipped. With many businesses operating at reduced capacity or for shorter hours, and millions of people wither contracting the virus or in isolation, consumer spending has dropped sharply.
"They still needed to have that, if they were going to let it rip." The heartbeat of the economy "That's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous," she said. She was frustrated that public health measures such as QR codes to check in and wearing face masks in public were abandoned just as Omicron took off in the community. It's severely affected the single mother's ability to earn an income. She works as a portrait photographer in Canberra.Ī number of Ms Wardhaugh's shoots have already been cancelled or postponed because the person she was supposed to photograph tested positive or had to isolate as a close contact. "It's like a lockdown that the government is not paying for," she said. Hillary Wardhaugh has struggled to find work during the Omicron wave. Other than for urgent repairs or to make worksites stable, construction workers were not included, but the Prime Minister said they could be added in the future following further health advice. Then, it announced more workers to be exempt from COVID isolation to help ease the pressure on workforces and supply chains. It led the federal government to redefine the definition of a close contact. In the past few weeks, as most of Australia has dealt with the spread of Omicron, thousands of businesses like Mr Ellston's have been affected.
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Read our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic "What takes two days, ends up taking four days." " if you're not all there from the start to finish, you're left behind," he said. He had to call in a sub-contractor, talk them through the project over the phone and hope for the best. In December, his daughter caught COVID-19, forcing the rest of the family into isolation as close contacts.įor seven days, he could not be on site. Recently, it's become so hard for him to start or finish jobs on time that he's started losing work.
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