Federal parliament is being urged not to return next week as the ACT’s lockdown is extended for another fortnight.
The ACT has recorded another 19 coronavirus cases, including in an aged care worker, taking its outbreak to 28.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr does not think federal parliament should return as scheduled from next week.
“They (the government) need to consider the urgency of a federal parliamentary sitting and whether it is required,” he told reporters on Monday.
“Now is probably not the time for the federal parliament to return.”
Any decision on parliament being postponed is up to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
But current ACT health rules do not prevent it from sitting, as Parliament House is an essential workplace.
The ACT’s seven-day lockdown has been extended for another two weeks until September 2.
“We do not want to see the numbers continue to grow and we do not want to see exponential growth,” Mr Barr said.
The new cases included a worker from the Tuggeranong Greenway Views Village.
The centre was in lockdown following the ACT’s first confirmed infection in an aged care centre.
The worker, who did three shifts last week without realising they were infectious, had received one vaccine dose.
Health authorities hoped this would limit the extent of transmission.
Meanwhile, a Lyneham High School student attended classes for four days last week with the virus.
Staff, students and their households were ordered to quarantine.
Around 6500 close contacts had been identified so far while 5723 tests were conducted on Sunday.
About 1800 people were in quarantine after returning from NSW, which reported 478 new cases and eight additional deaths including a teenage boy.
Mr Barr warned ACT residents to expect more cases in coming days.
Canberra’s lockdown was initially slated to expire this Thursday following its first case in 13 months.
It remained unclear exactly how that man, aged in his 20s and from Gungahlin, got the Delta variant. But the infection was linked to Sydney’s outbreak.
By Georgie Moore in Canberra, AAP
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