Viral immunologist says it’s time to ‘revisit’ length of COVID-19 quarantine

With new COVID-19 variants emerging, an expert says it’s time to consider extending the quarantine period for international arrivals into Australia.

Professor of viral immunology at Murdoch University, Cassandra Berry, says we now know a lot more about COVID-19 than we did when the 14-day quarantine duration was set.

“I don’t think it is long enough at this point in time,” she told Dee Dee.

“We’re seeing a lot of changes with the virus, it’s evolving.

“We have the more transmissible variant, the delta variant, and we’re getting a lot of arrivals from high risk countries where these variants are circulating so perhaps we should revisit that period of quarantine.”

Professor Berry is calling for a 21-day quarantine period for arrivals from high risk countries or who are identified as having the delta variant.

Press PLAY below to hear why Professor Berry thinks quarantine should be extended in some circumstances