Even when the emergency pandemic authorities that initially dictated its operation expire, the federal government has no imminent intentions to abandon its troublesome COVIDSafe contact tracing programme.
As governments push ahead with a “normalisation” plan, health minister Greg Hunt said this week that the biosecurity determination in place since 2020 will expire on April 17, 2022.
At that point, overseas visitors entering Australia will no longer be required to submit a negative test before to departure, however they will still be required to be double-vaccinated against the virus.
“The country is ready to move on from the emergency declaration declared two years and one month ago,” Hunt said during a press conference on Friday.
However, the lifting of the limitations will have no effect on the COVIDSafe app, which was backed by a biosecurity determination until the Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contact Information) Act takes effect in mid-May 2020.
Any decision is subject to the chief medical officer’s or Australian Health Protection Principal Committee’s recommendation.
Because there is no expiration date, the COVIDSafe app will continue to function at a cost of $60,000 per month despite its diminishing use.
Despite not being utilised during the Delta lockdowns in NSW, Victoria, and the ACT in the second part of last year, the app has cost more than $9 million as of September 2021.
Contract tracking has been greatly reduced in recent weeks, with governments no longer forcing people to check-in venues via QR code applications except in certain circumstances.
