Make Omicron medical advice public

Until that is done the community, understandably apprehensive about the explosion in new cases - especially in the eastern states, is being asked to take a lot on faith after having been told for almost two years the only way to beat coronavirus was to "test, trace and isolate".

As a result of the changes announced after Thursday's national cabinet meeting the previous measures have been watered down significantly. Australians have been told that because, in the Prime Minister's words "Omicron is a game-changer", it is necessary to move from elimination to suppression and that testing and contact tracing needs to concentrate on those deemed most at-risk.

The ACT, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have all agreed to adopt a new definition of what constitutes a "close contact" effective almost immediately. Tasmania will follow suit on Saturday.

Under the new definition the only close contacts are people who have spent four hours with a confirmed case in a domestic setting. This is potentially confusing, as are the changes to the lengths of time confirmed cases and close contacts are now being required to isolate.

A lot of people will be wondering what the difference is between spending four hours with a person with COVID-19 in a domestic environment and spending up to eight or nine hours with a confirmed case in a workplace setting.

While, under the recently introduced mandates, masks should be worn in the office, lived experience has shown this doesn't always happen.

Also, given Omicron's remarkably high level of transmissibility, what level of protection would a mask provide over an eight hour period with a confirmed case anyway?

These are all questions people will be asking and to which they are entitled to know the answers.

At this stage the only justification that has been given is the belief by the chief medical officer, Professor Paul Kelly, that Omicron is significantly less severe than Delta or Alpha. Prof Kelly told the post-national cabinet meeting press conference he based this on a draft research paper out of South Africa he had read overnight, and on emerging local trends. According to the South African research Omicron appears 73 per cent less severe than Delta.

The Australian figures also look hopeful with only 1400 - or 1.28 per cent - of Australia's 110,000 active cases in hospital. Just 0.11 per cent (122) were in an ICU and only 0.05 per cent (51) were on ventilators. That said, it is important not to over-rely on those the numbers given there is a time lag of up to six or seven days between testing positive and hospitalisations.

Given the explosion in cases after Christmas we will have a much clearer idea of where things are heading this time next week.

In the meantime the shift in emphasis from PCR to rapid antigen testing may prove a challenge given many jurisdictions, including the ACT, NSW and Queensland, appear to have been caught flat-footed on getting their orders in.

It is fair to say few governments, with the exception of geographically-advantaged Western Australia and possibly Tasmania, have responded to Omicron well.

NSW knew Omicron was coming but took its foot off the brake before Christmas, anyway. That decision, endorsed by the Prime Minister, has fuelled a national crisis.

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