Childcare exclusion periods: the NHMRC guidance, the Victorian minimums and the regulations behind them

Last reviewed: 29 October 2026. Exclusion periods from NHMRC Staying Healthy (6th edition fact sheets) and the Victorian Schedule 7 table; regulation references checked against the National Regulations reprint current as at 12 August 2026.

This page sets out the exclusion periods services are most often asked about, side by side: the NHMRC Staying Healthy guidance and the Victorian Schedule 7 minimums, which are the strictest written into law. It then covers the regulations that apply in every state, the notification duties and what the infectious diseases policy has to contain. Confirm your own state’s table with the health department before writing it into policy; the sources and dates are at the end.

Exclusion periods: NHMRC guidance and the Victorian minimums

Cases are the child or staff member with the illness. Contacts are not excluded unless stated. Where Victoria has no Schedule 7 entry the NHMRC guidance applies there too.

Condition	NHMRC Staying Healthy (national guidance)	Victoria, Schedule 7 (law in Victoria)
Chickenpox (varicella)	Until all blisters have dried, usually at least 5 days after the rash appears in unvaccinated children, less in vaccinated children	Until all blisters have scabbed over (same practical period); contacts not excluded, immunocompromised contacts advised to stay home
Conjunctivitis	Until discharge from the eyes has stopped, unless a doctor has diagnosed non-infectious conjunctivitis	Until eye discharge clears; contacts not excluded
Gastroenteritis (diarrhoea and/or vomiting)	Until there has been no diarrhoea or vomiting for 24 hours; staff do not handle food for 48 hours	Outbreak (2 or more cases): 48 hours symptom-free. Single case: 24 hours symptom-free; contacts not excluded
Norovirus (confirmed)	Until there has been no diarrhoea or vomiting for 48 hours	As for gastroenteritis above
Hand, foot and mouth disease	Until all blisters have dried	Until blisters have dried; contacts not excluded
Head lice	Not excluded if effective treatment begins before the next attendance; the child does not need to be sent home immediately	Until the day after treatment has begun; contacts not excluded
Impetigo (school sores)	Until appropriate antibiotic treatment has started; cover sores on exposed skin with a watertight dressing	Until treatment has begun; cover sores with a waterproof dressing; contacts not excluded
Ringworm, tinea and other fungal skin infections	Until the day after starting appropriate antifungal treatment	Until the day after treatment begins; contacts not excluded
Scabies	Until the day after starting appropriate treatment	Until the day after treatment begins; contacts not excluded
Influenza and influenza-like illness	Exclude based on symptoms: new and worsening respiratory symptoms, or respiratory symptoms with fever, rash, tiredness, pain or poor feeding	Until fully recovered; contacts not excluded unless the Chief Health Officer directs
COVID-19	Refer to state or territory advice; otherwise exclude based on symptoms as for other respiratory infections	No specific Schedule 7 entry; follow Victorian Department of Health advice
Common cold, RSV, croup, bronchiolitis	Exclude based on symptoms as above; otherwise not excluded	No specific entry
Fever	Until the temperature is normal, unless the fever has a known non-infectious cause	No specific entry
Slapped cheek (fifth disease, parvovirus B19)	Not excluded	No specific entry
Measles	For 4 days after the rash appeared; vaccinated and immune contacts not excluded; talk to the public health unit about unvaccinated contacts; immunocompromised children excluded until 14 days after the last case’s rash	At least 4 days after rash onset. Unvaccinated, under-vaccinated or non-immune contacts excluded until 14 days after the last case’s rash or 18 days after last contact, whichever is later, unless given post-exposure prophylaxis
Mumps	For 9 days or until swelling goes down, whichever is sooner	For 5 days or until swelling subsides, whichever comes first; contacts not excluded
Rubella	Until fully recovered or for at least 4 days after the rash appears	Until fully recovered and at least 7 days after rash onset; contacts not excluded
Whooping cough (pertussis)	Until 5 days after starting appropriate antibiotic treatment, or 21 days from onset of coughing without antibiotics; public health unit advises on unvaccinated contacts	For 21 days after cough onset or until 5 days of antibiotics are completed. Contacts in the same room without three effective vaccine doses excluded for 14 days after last exposure or until 5 days of antibiotics
Strep throat and scarlet fever	Until the person has received antibiotic treatment for at least 24 hours and feels well	Until 24 hours of antibiotics are completed and the child feels well; contacts not excluded
Hepatitis A	Until at least 7 days after jaundice starts, or if there is no jaundice until 2 weeks after onset of other symptoms	After a medical certificate and no sooner than 7 days after symptoms or jaundice begin; contacts not excluded
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b)	Until the person has received appropriate antibiotic treatment for at least 4 days	For 48 hours after effective treatment starts; contacts not excluded
Meningococcal infection	Until the person has completed appropriate antibiotic treatment	Until carrier eradication therapy is complete; contacts receiving carrier eradication therapy not excluded
Meningitis (viral)	Until the person is well	Bacterial (non-meningococcal) meningitis: until fully recovered; contacts not excluded
Shingles	Children until blisters have dried and crusted; adults who can cover the blisters are not excluded	No specific entry (chickenpox rules apply to contacts who develop chickenpox)
Cold sores (herpes simplex)	Not excluded if the person can maintain hygiene; young children who cannot are excluded until the sores are dry; cover sores where possible	Young children unable to follow good hygiene excluded while the sore is weeping; contacts not excluded
Molluscum contagiosum, warts, thrush, glandular fever, CMV, hepatitis B and C, HIV	Not excluded	Not listed in Schedule 7
Tuberculosis	Talk to the local public health unit about exclusion	Until a treating doctor certifies the child is not infectious; contacts not excluded
Typhoid and paratyphoid	Until cleared by the local public health unit	Return only with Chief Health Officer approval; contacts not excluded unless the Chief Health Officer directs
Diphtheria	Public health unit directs exclusion	Return after a medical certificate and two negative throat swabs; household contacts excluded until cleared by the Chief Health Officer
Polio	Public health unit directs exclusion	At least 14 days from onset and return with a medical certificate; contacts not excluded

Sources: NHMRC, Staying Healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services, 6th edition fact sheets (wording checked 29 October 2026 against the NHMRC consultation text; confirm against the current published edition); Victorian Department of Health, minimum period of exclusion table under regulation 111 and Schedule 7 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 (page updated 28 October 2026). Other states: South Australia, Queensland, NSW, WA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT publish tables through their health departments that follow the NHMRC periods with local variations; check yours.

What the National Regulations require

• Regulation 88(1): if there is an occurrence of an infectious disease at the service, the approved provider must ensure reasonable steps are taken to prevent its spread. Penalty $6,600. Following the exclusion period is the main reasonable step; hygiene, cleaning and communication are the others.
• Regulation 88(2) and (3): a parent or authorised emergency contact of every child at the service (or at the family day care residence) must be notified of the occurrence as soon as practicable. Penalty $6,600. This is every family, not only the families of children in the affected room.
• Regulation 86: the parent of a child who becomes ill at the service must be notified as soon as practicable and within 24 hours.
• Regulation 87: the illness must be entered in the incident, injury, trauma and illness record within 24 hours, including symptoms, time of onset, action taken, who was notified and when.
• Regulation 168(2)(c): the infectious diseases policy and procedures, including procedures complying with regulation 88. The policy is where the service writes down which exclusion table it follows.
• Regulation 77: health, hygiene and safe food practices, the day-to-day prevention measures assessors check under Element 2.1.2.
• Regulations 90 to 96: medical conditions and medication, relevant where an illness needs medication at the service.
• Public health law: notifiable conditions (for example measles, pertussis, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A) are reported to the public health unit by the diagnosing doctor or laboratory; the public health unit then directs the service on contacts. In Victoria the primary school or children’s service must itself exclude under regulation 111 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations.

Immunisation and enrolment

Exclusion of unvaccinated contacts during a measles or pertussis case is decided by the public health unit. Separately, enrolment itself depends on immunisation status in several states: New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland require an Australian Immunisation Register history statement showing the child is up to date, on a catch-up schedule or has a medical exemption before enrolment (no jab, no play laws), and Commonwealth Child Care Subsidy eligibility depends on the child meeting the immunisation requirements. Keep the immunisation records with the enrolment record under regulation 162.

Writing the policy so it works on the day

• Name the table the service follows (NHMRC Staying Healthy and, where it applies, the state health department’s table) and the date it was checked.
• Give educators a one-page version of the common conditions so the decision at the door is consistent: gastroenteritis, hand, foot and mouth, conjunctivitis, chickenpox, head lice, impetigo, fever.
• Set out who decides, who calls the parent (regulation 86), who notifies all families (regulation 88(2)) and who records it (regulation 87), with the 24-hour clocks.
• Say what a medical certificate does and does not do: a certificate does not override an exclusion period written into state law.
• Say how staff with gastroenteritis are managed: no food handling for 48 hours.
• Keep the fact sheets given to families with the policy, so the family receives the same period the service applies.

Frequently asked questions

This page is a research summary, not legal or compliance advice. Element and regulation wording is reproduced from the current reprint of the National Regulations; confirm the position with your regulatory authority before relying on it for a compliance decision.