Media release – Dr Mark Veitch, Director of Public Health, 5 April 2022
Public Health emergency period extended by eight weeks
The Director of Public Health, Dr Mark Veitch, has declared a further extension of the Public Health Emergency Declaration under the Public Health Act 1997 (the Act).
However, for the first time since the initial emergency declaration on 17 March 2020, Dr Veitch has elected to renew the declaration for a shorter, eight-week period, commencing 5 April 2022.
“Our high vaccination rates have significantly reduced the risk of severe outcomes of COVID-19, particularly among those at higher risk of hospitalisation, admission to intensive care, and death,’’ Dr Veitch said.
“While the per capita incidence of notified cases of COVID-19 in Tasmania is currently high, our prevalence of COVID-19 hospitalisations has been low.
“The current wave of infection in Tasmania is expected to decline by later in April 2022.
“I expect that in the coming months it will be appropriate for the clinical and public health management of COVID-19 to shift to approaches suitable for a common notifiable acute respiratory infection.
“Measures to address COVID-19 will continue to aim to address the clinical and public health risks from the virus, while minimising the risk of social and economic harms.
“Responses need to be sufficient and proportionate to manage risks from COVID-19 when community transmission and impacts are low, and when cases increase or when new variants emerge.”
Dr Veitch reaffirmed that under the Public Health Act 1997 he could make a further decision to end the Emergency Declaration sooner than, or to extend it beyond, the latest eight-week period, if the epidemiological situation or the need for control measures change significantly.
