08 July 2022
This is an old news article. As of 14 October 2022, the reinfection period for people who have had COVID-19 is 35 days (5 weeks). More information on the recovering from COVID-19 page.
In line with recommendations released by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee today (8 July 2022), the ACT will reduce the reinfection period for people who have had COVID-19 from 12 weeks to 28 days.
From Tuesday 12 July, a person who has had COVID-19 should again get tested and isolate if they have symptoms more than 28 days after being cleared from a COVID-19 infection.
ACT Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said this reduction to the reinfection period reflects the increasing evidence that prior infection with COVID-19 provides relatively limited protection against the Omicron BA.4 / BA.5 sub-variants.
These sub-variants are expected to become Australia’s dominant strain in July and are more transmissible than earlier variants.
‘This means that you can be reinfected with the virus as early as 28 days after a previous COVID-19 infection,’ Dr Coleman said.
‘People who test positive outside of the 28 day period will now be treated as new cases. If you test positive on a RAT you must report your result to ACT Health. Positive PCR tests will be automatically reported to ACT Health.
‘All Canberrans have a role to play in reducing the impact of COVID-19. Now is the time for all of us to act to protect ourselves, our loved ones, the health system, those who are more at risk and the broader community.
We need to continue to follow our COVID Smart behaviours. Up to date vaccination also still provides the best defence against severe illness’.
The Public Health (Diagnosed People and Household Contact’s) Emergency Direction 2022 (No 8) will become effective at 11.59pm on Monday 11 July 22.
For more information visit the ACT COVID-19 website.
