The ACT Chief Minister has warned Canberrans not to have parties over the long weekend as the territory recorded its highest daily increase of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, and two deaths. Fifty-two new case were detected in the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday and 40 of the cases were linked to known cases or clusters. Of the 52 cases, 17 were in quarantine for their entire infectious period and at least 31 spent some part of their infectious period in the community. Eleven patients were in hospital and three people were in intensive care on ventilation. Two residents of the Calvary Haydon residential aged care facility died after contracting the virus. They were aged in their 80s and were receiving end of life care from the palliative care team. One of the new COVID-19 case was a staff member at the Alexander Maconochie Centre who worked at the prison from Monday to Wednesday, sending the facility into lockdown. Two of the new cases were linked to the Calvary Haydon aged care facility, bringing the cluster to 19. The London Circuit construction site cluster increased by nine cases to a total of 26. Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was the territory’s toughest day of the pandemic. The new cases were mostly linked to existing clusters in essential workplaces and issued a warning ahead of the long weekend. “My word of caution ahead of the NRL grand final this weekend is although the public health directions allow for two people to visit a home, the point of that is very small gatherings, not an NRL grand final party where you have 15 people over. That’s almost guaranteed to be a super spreading event.” He said the next two weeks would be critical for case numbers to be suppressed while as many people as possible are vaccinated before restrictions are set to relax on October 15. He did not rule out changing the pathway out of lockdown but said one day of high cases was not enough to show a deteriorating trend. “We ask Canberrans to keep doing the right thing. You can’t let your guard down now we’ve come this far. We can’t let this get out of control in the next two weeks.” READ MORE: On the same day as the grim case numbers were recorded, the ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to have 90 per cent of its population aged 12 years and over with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Mr Barr said the territory was on track to have 90 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated by the end of October. Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the number of cases would have been much higher if it wasn’t for the social public health measures. “I know that today’s case numbers will be concerning for some people, given this is the highest daily number in the outbreak so far, and I must admit, it is a little concerning for us as well. “But as we have said previously, a couple of high and low numbers don’t make a trend, and our daily case numbers have been going up and down within a reasonable bracket. But I think what today’s numbers do is reminds us that we can’t be complacent.” Six people have died in the ACT since the pandemic began, three in 2020 and three since August 12. Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
Barr issues long weekend warning after Canberra’s worst day of COVID pandemic
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No changes have been made to lockdown restrictions after 52 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths were recorded in the ACT.
coronavirus,
2021-10-01T17:30:00+10:00
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Fifty-two new case were detected in the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday and 40 of the cases were linked to known cases or clusters.
Of the 52 cases, 17 were in quarantine for their entire infectious period and at least 31 spent some part of their infectious period in the community. Eleven patients were in hospital and three people were in intensive care on ventilation.
Two residents of the Calvary Haydon residential aged care facility died after contracting the virus. They were aged in their 80s and were receiving end of life care from the palliative care team.
Two of the new cases were linked to the Calvary Haydon aged care facility, bringing the cluster to 19. The London Circuit construction site cluster increased by nine cases to a total of 26.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was the territory’s toughest day of the pandemic. The new cases were mostly linked to existing clusters in essential workplaces and issued a warning ahead of the long weekend.
“My word of caution ahead of the NRL grand final this weekend is although the public health directions allow for two people to visit a home, the point of that is very small gatherings, not an NRL grand final party where you have 15 people over. That’s almost guaranteed to be a super spreading event.”
He said the next two weeks would be critical for case numbers to be suppressed while as many people as possible are vaccinated before restrictions are set to relax on October 15.
He did not rule out changing the pathway out of lockdown but said one day of high cases was not enough to show a deteriorating trend.
“We ask Canberrans to keep doing the right thing. You can’t let your guard down now we’ve come this far. We can’t let this get out of control in the next two weeks.”
On the same day as the grim case numbers were recorded, the ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to have 90 per cent of its population aged 12 years and over with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Mr Barr said the territory was on track to have 90 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated by the end of October.
Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the number of cases would have been much higher if it wasn’t for the social public health measures.
“I know that today’s case numbers will be concerning for some people, given this is the highest daily number in the outbreak so far, and I must admit, it is a little concerning for us as well.
“But as we have said previously, a couple of high and low numbers don’t make a trend, and our daily case numbers have been going up and down within a reasonable bracket. But I think what today’s numbers do is reminds us that we can’t be complacent.”
Six people have died in the ACT since the pandemic began, three in 2020 and three since August 12.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was the toughest day of the ACT’s pandemic response so far. Picture: Karleen Minney
Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
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