Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the government will "take action" to ramp up the country's vaccine booster program in response to surging Omicron case numbers in the lead-up to Christmas.
Speaking after an emergency national cabinet meeting held on Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister announced a raft of new measures.
He told reporters the government had developed a new plan to address rising case numbers of the Omicron variant.
The government will focus on three key areas, with the first being public health social measures designed to "moderate the pace of infection."
It will also amp up its vaccination booster program along with its TTIQ; test, trace and quarantine program.
However the government did not come away with a firm decision on mask mandates across states and territories. The prime minister said it is "highly recommended" people wear them.
Asked whether it was time the states and territories should be brought to a consensus around mandating mask wearing, Morrison pushed back on the idea the federal government should impose a blanket rule.
Decisions around masks "requires common sense," the prime minister said, with the framework around this to be decided by individual premiers.
It also did not announce any changes to the interval period between the second shot and booster shot, with the prime minister reiterating this was not a decision for him and the states, but rather for ATAGI.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) indicated on Tuesday it may update the interval period between the second dose of a vaccine and booster shots from five months to four or potentially even three.
Sharon Lewin, director of the Doherty Institute told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday that ATAGI was analysing overseas data to help it decide if COVID-19 booster doses should be brought forward.
The current five-month interval "may well change" in the days to come, she said.
Morrison reiterated that the country currently has 20 million vaccines currently available for people to access for booster shots.
The prime minister also said the state premiers had come to an agreement around better aligning definitions around close and casual contacts.
"We must have a common definition across the country about what is a close contact," Morrison said.
This will be defined within a fortnight by a medical panel.
He said national cabinet would meet again in a fortnight to assess the progress of the booster rollout and case numbers across the country.
Most notably, Morrison again reiterated the government's firm stance that the country would not return to harsh restrictions in the face of the new outbreak.
"We are not going back into lockdown," he said, adding that the country was well-prepared to ramp up the booster program, expand its testing capabilities and ensure safety measures were in place to manage its spread.
"Australia is arguably better prepared to deal with this than almost any other country in the world," Morrison said.
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