With increasing cases of new COVID-19 variants spreading in the community, the chance of reinfection is now more likely.
For this reason, the window for potential reinfection of COVID-19 has been reduced from after 12 weeks to after four weeks (28 days), based on the latest expert advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC),
This means that effective immediately, recovered COVID-19 cases will be required to test for COVID-19 after 28 days, if experiencing symptoms, and follow the relevant advice if they test positive.
Understandably, this may have an impact on people and local businesses throughout the community, with more people expected to be isolating in the coming months.
The following support is available:
- COVID-19 Test Isolation Payment Scheme WA (external link) – a single payment of $320 for WA workers who are isolating, can’t work from home and can’t access paid leave.
- Mental Health and COVID-19 | Think Mental Health (external link)– information about looking after your mental health in isolation.
- COVID-19 updates for business (external link) – information for businesses to help manage disruption associated with COVID-19, including financial support. Businesses are encouraged to support working from home arrangements for workers, where possible.
- WA free RAT program – free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) for the WA community to ease cost of living pressures and support regular COVID-19 testing.
It is important that people who have previously had COVID-19, irrespective of the variant, continue to receive the recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses, as prior infection alone will not provide sufficient protection against severe disease. People are still recommended to wait for 3 months post-COVID infection to receive their next dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, as it is likely to lead to a better immune response and result in longer protection from reinfection.
For more information, visit the ‘After you’ve had COVID-19’ page.
