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Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has defended the government's decision to end pandemic leave payments for those needing to isolate as COVID-19 case numbers rise.

The payments, which ended on June 30, were for infected people who needed to spend time away from their work while they isolated for seven days.

Mr Butler said while case numbers were increasing due to more transmissible variants, the payments needed to end at some point.

"There's no easy time to end emergency payments, that's the truth, but this payment was designed and budgeted by the former government and all state governments to come to an end on June 30," he told the Nine Network on Monday.

"If we extended these for a couple of months, we would have had this discussion at that time. These are hard decisions you have to make when you're $1 trillion in debt."

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said the pandemic payments were not meant to be a permanent measure.

"We want to make sure people are on a job ... we have to be careful and make sure you get to a point where you have to live with COVID," he told the Seven Network.

The health minister said a more targeted approach to dealing with COVID-19 was needed as the virus continued to change.

It comes as more Australians became eligible for a fourth vaccine dose and COVID antivirals from Monday.

An additional 7.4 million people will be able to receive a fourth vaccine dose, with people over 50 recommended to get the extra booster while those over 30 are also eligible.

Australians over 70 who test positive for the virus will be able to access antivirals on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from Monday.

Access will also be expanded to people over 50 with two or more risk factors for severe disease and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people over 30 with two or more risk factors.

Anyone 18 or over and immunocompromised may also be eligible.

Mr Butler said the measures were designed to improve resilience to the virus.

"We said we'd do everything to get through this winter safely," he said.

"Two doses are not enough to protect you from the Omicron variant. There are still Australians out there who haven't had their second dose and then the critical third dose."

Two antivirals are on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme: Lagevrio and Paxlovid. Normally costing more than $1000, they will be available from Monday for $6.80 for concession card holders and about $40 for everyone else.

An advertising campaign will also be launched to educate Australians about the treatments.

The 'Plan For COVID' campaign encourages people to test at the first sign of symptoms, talk to their doctor without delay for advice and seek treatment options.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 7586 cases, eight deaths, 2002 in hospital with 63 in ICU

Queensland: 4804 cases, no deaths, 782 in hospital with 10 in ICU

Tasmania: 1439 cases, no deaths, 99 in hospital with four in ICU

WA: 4882 cases, two deaths, 282 in hospital with nine in ICU

Victoria: 8689 cases, no deaths, 717 in hospital with 30 in ICU

SA: 3300 cases, one death, 284 in hospital with nine in ICU

ACT: 1143 cases, two deaths, 136 in hospital, five in ICU

NT: 323 cases, no deaths, 25 in hospital, one in ICU

© AAP 2022

The judge overseeing the two-month long murder trial of Christopher Michael Dawson has said he will try to deliver the final verdict in the case relatively quickly.

As the trial wrapped up on Monday, NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison thanked crown prosecutors and Dawson's legal team for their assistance and said he would attempt to publish his findings as soon as possible.

"I hope to be able to provide my judgment relatively quickly. That doesn't mean tomorrow I assure you," he said.

Dawson, 73, is accused of murdering his wife Lynette Dawson in January 1982 so he could have an unfettered relationship with one of his high school students, known as JC, while retaining full ownership of assets like his home in Bayview, Sydney.

Concluding her closing submissions, Dawson's barrister Pauline David urged the court to find her client not guilty, saying the Crown's circumstantial case had not proved beyond reasonable doubt what actually happened to Mrs Dawson when she disappeared in 1982.

"The only verdict open is a not guilty verdict, Your Honour," she said.

The barrister acknowledged that Dawson's extramarital affair with JC in late 1981 would have caused deep hurt to his then wife, but argued it was this that caused her to walk out and abandon the home.

"We say that notwithstanding his relationship, however inappropriate, obviously the defence position is that doesn't make him a murderer," she said.

While Mrs Dawson had made plans for the future with her family in late 1981 such as commissioning portraits of her two daughters and organising a surprise birthday party for her mother, she still decided to walk out and cut contact with everyone, the court heard.

Over Christmas 1981, Dawson's departure with JC in a failed bid to travel north from Sydney and start a new life in Queensland was a significant event which may have impacted on how Mrs Dawson viewed her future within the family, Ms David said.

The barrister described how Dawson's relationship with JC started out as an appropriate, measured interaction between a student and teacher.

Claims by JC that Dawson had picked her out and groomed her were rejected. Ms David explained that the school teacher did eventually care about his student, however, with the pair eventually marrying in 1984.

"It started more as an appropriate relationship. It went further, but the fact that they ultimately married, we say, demonstrates that it was a relationship that involved caring and love."

She said the court should reject evidence that Dawson was violent or abusive towards his wife, saying testimony had been coloured by witnesses' negative perceptions about him or contaminated by hearing The Teacher's Pet podcast or speaking to its author, journalist Hedley Thomas.

When discussing evidence by neighbour Julie Andrew of an argument witnessed between the Dawsons by their backyard trampoline, Justice Harrison acknowledged that arguments did not make a murderer.

"If domestic arguments between spouses were indicative of somebody's predisposition to kill their spouse, then we're probably all in strife aren't we?" he asked.

Evidence that Dawson was an honest man distressed by the allegations against him and who had been described as one of the least violent people in the world by his twin brother Paul Dawson should be accepted, the court heard.

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© AAP 2022

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has defended the government's decision to end pandemic leave payments for those needing to isolate as COVID-19 case numbers rise.

The payments, which ended on June 30, were for infected people who needed to spend time away from their work as they went into isolation for seven days.

Mr Butler said while case numbers were increasing due to more transmissible variants, the payments needed to end at some point.

"There's no easy time to end emergency payments, that's the truth, but this payment was designed and budgeted by the former government and all state governments to come to an end on June 30," he told the Nine Network on Monday.

"If we extended these for a couple of months, we would have had this discussion at that time. These are hard decisions you have to make when you're $1 trillion in debt."

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said the pandemic payments were not meant to be a permanent measure.

"We want to make sure people are on a job ... we have to be careful and make sure you get to a point where you have to live with COVID," he told the Seven Network.

The health minister said a more targeted approach to dealing with COVID-19 was needed as the virus continued to change.

It comes as more Australians became eligible for a fourth vaccine dose and COVID antivirals from Monday.

An additional 7.4 million people will be able to receive a fourth vaccine dose, with people over 50 recommended to get the extra booster, while those over 30 are also eligible.

Australians over 70 who test positive for the virus will be able to access antivirals on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from Monday.

Access will also be expanded to people over 50 with two or more risk factors for severe disease and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people over 30 with two or more risk factors.

Anyone 18 or over and immunocompromised may also be eligible.

Mr Butler said the measures were designed to improve resilience to the virus.

"We said we'd do everything to get through this winter safely," he said.

"Two doses are not enough to protect you from the Omicron variant. There are still Australians out there who haven't had their second dose and then the critical third dose."

Two antivirals are on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme: Lagevrio and Paxlovid. Normally costing more than $1000, they will be available from Monday for $6.80 for concession card holders and about $40 for everyone else.

An advertising campaign will also be launched to educate Australians about the treatments.

The 'Plan For COVID' campaign encourages people to test at the first sign of symptoms, talk to their doctor without delay for advice and seek treatment options.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 7586 cases, eight deaths, 2002 in hospital with 63 in ICU

Tasmania: 1439 cases, no deaths, 99 in hospital with four in ICU

© AAP 2022