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Australian tourism operators are relieved after the announcement borders will reopen to international travellers for the first time in two years.

Double-vaccinated tourists will be welcomed back on February 21, more than 700 days after the pandemic stopped international travel.

Representatives for Australia's inbound tourism sector say businesses are rejoicing at the announcement made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley says the news will give businesses a starting point for rebuilding the industry.

"It's been a long, hard and desperate road for every tourism business across the country and we have lost many along the way, but this news will give those who have survived a clear target to work toward," he said.

Mr Shelley is confident there is pent up demand from tourists wanting to get to Australia.

But he warned the challenge would be for operators to rebuild their lost capacity, product, service skills and supply chains.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called the announcement a "watershed moment" as the country starts to emerge from the pandemic.

Chief executive Andrew McKellar says it is a step back to normality for Australia's export-oriented economy.

But executive chair of the ACCI's tourism branch John Hart said there will be a lag between borders opening and tourists arriving, and said businesses needed support in the meantime.

He also called on the government to refund tourist visa fees and remove passenger movement charges to encourage travellers.

Meanwhile, Qantas head Alan Joyce says the airline will look to restart flights from more international destinations sooner or add capacity to existing routes.

"We know there are lots of international tourists who want to come to Australia ... This means they can now book to come here with confidence," he said in a statement.

The prime minister said all tourists arriving in Australia would need to be double vaccinated.

"We've been very careful looking at the impact, particularly when Omicron hit, and how that would flow through," he said.

"But the fact is ... in Australia the variant is here. For those coming in who are double vaccinated, they don't present any greater risk than those who are already here in Australia."

The border announcement came as Australia recorded more than 22,000 new COVID cases and 46 deaths from the virus on Monday.

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A 77-year-old Tasmanian woman who died from an artery tear had been sent home from hospital a day earlier with painkillers after staff didn't correctly diagnose her condition.

Care provided to Helen Mary Badcock at Launceston General Hospital was "not of an acceptable standard" according to coronial findings published on Monday.

She was taken to the hospital by ambulance on Christmas Day 2020 after suffering significant pain and numbness in her right leg while at home with her daughter and granddaughter.

Ambulance paramedics were unable to find a blood pressure on her right side.

Mrs Badcock's condition was reviewed, and her altered leg and foot sensation recorded, at the hospital where a CT scan of her lower back was undertaken.

It showed degenerative spinal disease with very mild canal stenosis, a narrowing of the gap between vertebrae.

"Mrs Badcock was discharged, staff apparently concluding that her presentation was in some way attributable to the mild spinal degeneration indicated in the CT scan," coroner Simon Cooper wrote.

"Unfortunately this conclusion was not correct, as Ms Badcock had suffered a type I aortic dissection."

Mr Cooper said the aortic dissection should have been apparent because of an inability to obtain a blood pressure on Mrs Badcock's right side.

He said it was something ambulance paramedics noticed and recorded, but hospital staff did not.

"Mrs Badcock was discharged home with painkillers, where she died from an aortic dissection in the evening of the following day," Mr Cooper wrote.

Her medical records from the hospital contained no record of blood pressure measurements in both arms and nothing with regard to pulse deficits, unlike the records of Ambulance Tasmania.

Mr Cooper wrote there was no record of "anything in the nature of cardiovascular examination" being carried out.

"Mrs Badcock showed obvious signs that she was likely to have been suffering from an aortic dissection when she was at the (hospital)."

"I think it is clear that staff at the (hospital) did not understand the significance of the blood pressure difference, and thus missed an opportunity to diagnose the underlying cause for her presentation."

Mr Cooper said there was no evidence of systemic issues around misdiagnosis of aortic dissection at the hospital.

"However, that is not the point. Considering the evidence as a whole, I conclude that care received by Mrs Badcock ... was not of an acceptable standard."

© AAP 2022

Members of the Australian Defence Force will be deployed to assist the aged care sector as it deals with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Following a meeting of federal cabinet's national security committee on Monday, as many as 1700 ADF personnel will be used to help the sector.

The decision will ensure teams can be deployed to deal with acute situations within a 24-hour notice period.

It will start with four teams of 10 and that can increase to up to 10 different ADF teams.

The teams will include a registered nurse, medical technicians and other personnel to support general duties.

The deployment will start with about 50 ADF members being deployed to each state, with the ability to scale it up to 200.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the measures would not mean there would be a surrogate workforce for the aged care sector.

"They have provided quite targeted support into the aged care sector in extreme situations, some of the most difficult situations," he told reporters in Canberra.

"A majority of those are clinical support because that's the resource available ... it's a targeted bespoke effort."

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said there would also be 15 military planners who would be deployed to the federal health department to help coordination efforts.

But opposition spokeswoman Clare O'Neil said the government did not have a sustainable solution to address the aged care crisis.

"Aged care is fundamentally about care, so we can call in as many defence force personnel as we want to assist with cooking, logistics and deliveries and that will be very helpful," she said.

"But it will not change the fundamental problem here which is we have an aged care sector which has been in crisis for nine years."

Ms O'Neil said a Labor government would support aged care workers seeking a pay rise from the Fair Work Commission, but said it was up to the umpire to decide how much wages should be increased.

It's estimated there are about 285,000 workers in the aged care sector.

Aged care facilities have been under considerable strain during the Omicron wave, with more than 500 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of 2022.

Many centres have been dealing with shortages of protective equipment and rapid antigen tests, along with staff shortfalls due to many people testing positive to COVID.

Mr Morrison said the past few weeks had been challenging for aged care.

"It's a tough challenge, and we'd be kidding ourselves as a country if we didn't think the pandemic has impacts," he said.

"You seek to mitigate them as best you can."

© AAP 2022