
THE relaxation of COVID-19 isolation rules for household contacts has been met with both delight and dismay, with Hunter businesses calling it a "step in the right direction" while disability advocates fear the changes will put the region's most vulnerable at risk.
As the Hunter recorded 2,069 new cases and the death of a Lake Macquarie woman in her 70s, the NSW Government announced that from 6pm Friday, the strict seven-day isolation rule for household contacts not displaying symptoms of COVID-19 will be replaced with a "more permissive" set of guidelines.