Australian Medical Association warns doctors are 'bewildered' by mixed messaging around COVID medical advice

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said he did not see widely-reported advice from his chief medical officer, as an Omicron wave sparks concern for Australia's buckling hospital systems.

Mr Albanese also declined to give full-throated backing for working from home arrangements, saying rules needed to strike "balance" between safety and economic activity.

Chief medical officer Paul Kelly on Tuesday urged businesses to review their health and safety plans, calling on them to allow working from home "if feasible" to curb climbing case numbers.

Despite the advice being delivered alongside Health Minister Mark Butler and widely reported by the media, Mr Albanese conceded he was not aware of it.

"I didn't hear his comments, so perhaps you should have asked him at the time. If you want to ask in general terms [you can]. I can't comment on what Professor Kelly thought," he said.

The Prime Minister did not answer directly when pressed on whether companies should deliver work-from-home edicts if they were able to do so, stressing reduced foot traffic could have harmful flow-on effects.

"Businesses will continue to make those decisions. They need to make them on the basis of safety but also for some people we need to recognise that they can't work from home," he said.

"We need to recognise there's a consequence ... as well. If you're a business that relies upon people coming into the CBD to shop, in retail or hospitality, then your business can be hurt by that as well.

"So it's a matter of getting the balance right."

Professor Kelly's advice also urged businesses to consider mask-wearing for staff working on-site.

Labor has been criticised for its messaging on face coverings, which remained "strongly recommended" in indoor settings but not mandated.

The government last week bowed to pressure by extending paid pandemic leave, but Mr Albanese, wearing a mask despite receiving a booster without one last week, has remained steadfast on mandates.

"The truth is that if you have mandates, you've got to enforce them," he said.

"People have been incredibly responsible during this pandemic ... and I'm confident that they'll continue to do so."

Australian Medical Association vice president Chris Moy said under-pressure doctors had been left "bewildered, frustrated, and angry" by mixed messaging over the past fortnight.

"How's it going at the moment? Tell me the study that showed that mask mandates were not something that population was going to accept," he said.

"There was a mismatch between words and deeds ... What people hear is: it mustn't be bad enough for masks."

Dr Moy claimed the government had "snookered" itself by ruling out masks mandates last week, demanding the "unadulterated" advice underpinning Labor's stance be publicly released.

READ MORE:

The AMA has led calls for the creation of a centre for disease control, a policy adopted by Labor ahead of its May election victory.

Dr Moy said the past two weeks had only underlined the need for health advice to be released separately from government messaging.

"When politicians are coming out with [ruling out mandates] straight off the bat, without actually showing us the health advice, we can't totally trust what's being said," he said.

"You want the independent advice to come out showing the science and the modeling numbers, [and] you want their recommendations.

"The government could make decisions that are different, but they'd have to justify it."