Vaccinated travellers from low risk countries will quarantine at home for seven days in a trial in South Australia, National Cabinet has agreed.
The trial will find out if it's safe to scrap the 14-day hotel quarantine requirement as the country looks to gradually open its borders once more people are vaccinated.
A date for the trial, which will last for two weeks, has not yet been decided.
Shoppers queue to buy fruit and vegetables at a store in the suburb of Fairfield in western Sydney on Friday
Mounted officers made a brief appearance around lunchtime in Bankstown during lockdown on Friday
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: 'We will work with [South Australia] now to set up a time frame of how that will be put together and transparency arrangements for the other states and territories.
I think this is an important development. I think it's trialling out these new quarantine arrangements which will take significant pressure off, if it's successful.'
There have been at least 26 hotel quarantine leaks since the start of the pandemic, including six in June.
Last week Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said home quarantine can be safer than hotel quarantine because it avoids contact with hotel staff.
'Seven days of home quarantine can be very similar to the outcome of 14 days' hotel quarantine,' he said.
A woman wears a mask and visor in Chapel Street in Bankstown on Friday
Residents shopped for essentials wearing masks in Sydney. Pictured: Chapel Street in Bankstown
'If people are staying at home, it actually can be safer for them and the community because of the decreased interaction with staff.'
When he outlined his four-stage roadmap to freedom last week, Mr Morrison said home quarantine for vaccinated travellers would happen in the second stage expected early next year.
'You have a great opportunity for Australians who are vaccinated to be able to leave Australia and come back and put no pressure on the hotel quarantine system,' he said on Friday.
Meanwhile, Pfizer has confirmed it will 'ramp up' its delivery of vaccines to Australia as Sydney's outbreak grows to 439 cases.
The company has agreed to deliver at least a million vaccines a week from July 19, meaning more than 4.5million jabs will arrive in August.
Previously only three million doses were expected in August and 4.5million were due in September.
The total number delivered to Australia in 2021 will remain at 40 million, as agreed in April. Pfizer is simply sending the shipments earlier.
Shoppers make a purchase at a local fish market along Chapel Road in Bankstown in western Sydney as lockdown entered its fourteenth day
Premier
