More Australians will be tested for COVID-19 from Thursday after a national panel of medical experts urged governments to expand the current criteria.

Those to be tested will now include people suffering from fever or acute respiratory infection in a variety of vulnerable occupations and demographics.

More Australians will be tested for coronavirus after the government expanded the criteria of eligible candidates. Credit:Bloomberg

All health, aged and residential care workers will be eligible to be tested as well as those who are in geographically localised areas where there is elevated risk of community transmission as defined by the local public health unit.

Tests will also be done on people in high-risk settings where there are two or more plausibly linked cases, including aged and residential care, rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, detention centres and correctional facilities, boarding schools and military bases that have live-in accommodation.