Access to COVID isolation payments will resume from later this week, as health authorities try to stop the rising spread of virus cases across the country.
Employees who have tested positive for COVID and need to isolate from their jobs can receive the $750 which will be available from Wednesday.
It comes after the federal government agreed to extend the isolation payments to the end of September, after the scheme concluded on June 30.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the payments were reinstated following health advice on the growing numbers of COVID cases, caused by a more infectious strain of the Omicron sub-variant.
Dr Chalmers said the federal government would work collaboratively alongside the state and territory governments in helping to manage the third wave of Omicron cases.
The return of the COVID isolation payments will come with a $780 million price tag, but the costs will be split among the federal, state and territory governments.
The government initially said it did not want to reintroduce the payments due to pressure on the federal budget.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not indicated whether the September 30 deadline for the payments would be able to be extended.
Case numbers are continuing to increase as a result of the BA.4 and BA.5 strains of Omicron.
Over the weekend, more than 78,000 new cases of COVID were registered, with 107 deaths recorded.
More than 337,000 active cases of the virus were reported, with 4700 being treated for COVID in hospital.
Experts have said the peak of the fresh wave of Omicron isn't expected to hit until the end of July.
With more hospitalisations from COVID set to occur in coming weeks, the Victorian government has put forward a more than $160 million package to respond to the wave.
The money will be used to fund 400 additional specialist staff across 12 major hospitals in Melbourne and Geelong.
It comes as hospitals have been experiencing a rise in cases, accompanied by staff shortages due to healthcare workers being sick with the virus, with more than 10,000 staff off sick in the first week of July alone.
There's been a 99 per cent rise in hospitalisations with COVID in the state since June 22.
