Healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 in New South Wales will be able to leave isolation and return to work after seven days instead of 14 under new guidelines.
NSW Health has moved to reduce the time healthcare staff who are close contacts need to avoid high risk settings, such as hospitals.
Workers will need to have a negative PCR test on day six and follow a risk assessment plan before returning to work.
The plan includes daily rapid antigen testing and wearing a mask at all times.
Healthcare workers exposed in the community in a social setting will be able to return to work after a negative PCR test on day two and people exposed in the workplace will have their isolation and testing requirements determined by a workplace risk assessment.
The change comes after 2,000 NSW healthcare workers were furloughed.
NSW Labor health spokesman Ryan Park said testing chaos and hospital staffing woes are evidence the government needs to ask for help.
He wants them to lobby the Commonwealth or other states for support, which has come in the form of extra nurses and defence force members at other stages during the pandemic.
The number of COVID-19 tests processed each day in NSW has plummeted by more than 60,000 in recent days, as testing clinics and laboratories become overwhelmed.
But despite the drop in testing results reported daily, the number of new infections identified has remained stubbornly high.
Some 6324 new infections were reported on Monday, from more than 97,000 tests.
But the number of test results returned each day has progressively dropped by more than 60,000 over the past four days, as testing sites and laboratories become overwhelmed and wait times blow out amid reduced operating hours.
Adding to the mayhem, St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney admitted to two testing blunders in as many days, revealing on Monday almost 1000 people were told they were COVID-19 negative when in fact their results hadn't been returned yet.
It came a day after the hospital confirmed that more than 400 people who initially received a negative result on Christmas Day were notified on Boxing Day they had actually tested positive.
The requirement for a negative PCR test result for some domestic travel is also drastically driving up testing demand in several states.
"To ease pressure on testing clinics, we encourage you to only get a PCR test if you do have COVID-19 symptoms, or you are a household contact, or have had a high or moderate risk exposure to COVID-19, or have been directed to be tested," NSW Health's Christine Selvey said.
However interstate travellers requiring a PCR test are still able to get one.
While new cases dropped by 70 from the previous day, the number of people hospitalised has doubled in the past week.
A total of 520 people are in hospital, 55 of them in intensive care and 17 ventilated.
The state also reported three deaths on Monday, including a man in his 80s who became the state's first Omicron death, NSW Health said.
With infection rates rising, NSW has also reverted to restrictions scrapped less than two weeks ago.
Hospitality venues return to the one person per two-square metre rule, while QR codes have become compulsory again.
