Case numbers soared on Wednesday with Victoria and NSW recording record numbers.
Victoria reported 3767 new cases from 75,000 tests, and five deaths, while NSW had 11,201 cases from 157,000 tests and three deaths.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the uniform definition of a close contact was likely to be adopted.
Mr Morrison said the recommended definition proposed by the Chief Medical Officer was a household (or other accommodation-like setting) contact.
“A household contact is someone who lives with (them), or in a care setting, and has spent more than four hours with them in a house accommodation or care facility,” he said.
“So we're talking about someone that they live with, we're talking about someone like me and my family here who are living here together.
“What's important with this definition, is ... we just can't have everybody just be taken out of circulation, because they just happen to be at a particular place at a particular time. The uncertainty of that impacts on the economy.”
He said the nation-wide definition would “keep Australia moving” and let people “get on with their lives”.
“It's important that we continue to adjust and get as consistent approach as we possibly can, across all the states and territories,” Mr Morrison said.
He said close contacts would need to provide a negative day six COVID-19 test result to get out of quarantine on day seven, and people wouldn’t need RATs on a frequent basis.
“There is no need for you to be required to have a RAT test simply because you may have been somewhere at some point in time,” Mr Morrison said.
“Close contacts need to have RAT tests. People who are symptomatic need to have RAT tests, and indeed people who are symptomatic (need to have) a PCR test, but what’s not necessary is for people to be going out and bulk purchasing RAT tests and having them every other day on a casual basis.”
Queensland announced it will allow travellers wishing to enter the state to show a negative rapid antigen test result instead of a PCR test result from January 1.
The move follows mass demand on testing sites across the country, with hundreds of thousands of people seeking tests — people with symptoms and people needing a negative result to travel.
The increased demand meant some people had been turned away from testing sites along the eastern seaboard, and sites were closed early.
Long lines were also seen in Shepparton, with people waiting more than five hours on Boxing Day, but the Shepparton Showgrounds site was reopened this week.
While Queensland’s move to allow rapid antigen tests will provide some relief, the RATs — especially in regional areas — have become hard to find in recent weeks as demand soars.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said the tests should be free and widely available.
“Rapid antigen testing is the way that Victorians can have confidence as they go about living with COVID and make sure we keep the pressure off our public hospitals,” he said.
The stocks are due to arrive before the end of January. Mr Foley also reiterated the importance of people getting their third jab as soon as they became eligible.
“That third booster dose is going to be critical for us to flatten this growing curve.”
In Victoria, 397 people are in hospital and 62 in ICU, while there are 625 people in hospital across NSW and 61 people in ICU.
COVID-19 testing is available from the GV Health walk-in Respiratory Clinic on Graham St and at the drive-through site at Shepparton Showgrounds, as well as at Shepparton Respiratory Clinic at Princess Park Medical Clinic from 9am to noon. Bookings are required at Princess Park, either online or via the HotDoc app, while the other two sites do not require bookings.
