32 new cases of COVID-19 recorded as ACT passes new vaccine milestone

The ACT has recorded 32 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday as the territory became the first jurisdiction to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of its population aged 12 and over. Twenty-five of the cases have been linked to previous cases and 19 of these are household contacts. Eleven people spent their entire infectious period in quarantine and nine spent time in the community while infectious and posed a risk of transmission to others. Eighteen patients with COVID-19 were in Canberra’s hospitals. Seven were in intensive care and six required ventilation. More than 1600 people have self-identified as close contacts and there are more than 380 current exposure locations in the ACT. There are now 773 people who have recovered, including 10 in the past 24 hours. This means there are now 455 active cases associated with this outbreak. Chief Minister Andrew Barr said 98 per cent of Canberrans aged 12 and over had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Based on forward bookings, Mr Barr said it was likely the ACT would reach 99 per cent first dose. “Canberra will be amongst the most vaccinated places in the world,” he said. The AIS Arena mass vaccination clinic will now be open for walk-up vaccinations without bookings to help reach the remaining Canberrans. Immunocompromised people can access a third dose of Pfizer through their general practitioner. An ACT Health spokesperson said, “We are the first jurisdiction in Australia to reach this rate of vaccination coverage and we couldn’t be prouder of our community. “Thank you to everyone who has been vaccinated or is booked in to be vaccinated in the coming weeks.” Mr Barr said the ACT government will have confirmation from NSW by Wednesday or Thursday on how Canberrans will be treated in terms of travel restrictions from Friday. He said NSW would be aggressively enforcing the rules this week while vaccinated people in NSW regional areas had more freedoms than ACT residents. “Today is not an opportunity for Canberrans to go into NSW for non-essential reasons,” Mr Barr said. The number of postcodes with a standing exemption to enter the ACT for essential reasons will increase from Friday. The ACT government has changed the way it reports daily case numbers. On Monday, a press release was sent out before the 11.45am press conference. The Chief Minister did not refer to the statistics in his speech at the media event, which was held outside the AIS Arena. Katherine Wakefield, director of nursing Canberra Health Services COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics, addressed the media instead of either the chief health officer or deputy chief health officer. She thanked the staff who had worked hard to administer the vaccinations to such a large portion of the Canberra population. Meanwhile, fully-vaccinated people in NSW have been granted freedoms such as visiting shops, pubs and gyms from Monday. NSW recorded 496 new cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday. Victoria has recorded 1612 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths as trials of the state’s vaccine passport system begin. READ MORE COVID-19 NEWS: 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: