The ACT has recorded 1,125 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night with positive rapid antigen test (RAT) results now included in the figures.
885 of the new cases came from PCR tests while 240 were from RATs.
There are 27 patients in hospital with the virus, three are in intensive care and requiring ventilation.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in the ACT has dropped to 4,382 while the total infections during the Canberra outbreak is up to 19,908.
There were an additional 1,178 positive RAT results between 8-12 January.
There are now 15,510 people that have recovered from the virus in Canberra and 16 deaths.
The case fatality rate in the ACT now stands at 0.08 per cent.
28.1 per cent of ACT residents aged 18 and over have now received had a third dose of the vaccine while 15.3 per cent of children aged 5 to 11 have received their first dose.
Meanwhile, the Kambah COVID testing clinic started distributing rapid antigen tests (RATs) this morning at 10am to eligible people.
The 10,000 testing kits are only available for people who have COVID-19 symptoms, are household contacts of a confirmed case, are at high or moderate risk of contracting COVID-19 or who have been instructed by ACT Health to get a test.
Currently, the use of RATs at Kambah is only scheduled for today due to limited supply of test kits.
Acting Minister for Health Chris Steel said “longer term planning for how we will use RATs as part of our COVID-19 response is well under way”.
“This is the first time we have used RATs at our testing sites and it will help to ease the pressure on PCR testing with the high demand we are experiencing.
“These are self-administered RAT tests which means they can be used at home. Those who have a positive result should report it as soon as possible to ACT Health using the form on the COVID-19 ACT website.”
COVID across Australia
NSW has reported another 63,018 COVID-19 cases and a record 29 deaths, as Australia’s medical chief says the current wave of infections may have already peaked in the state.
The spike in daily reporting numbers comes as the state works through a backlog of results from rapid at-home tests, which were only able to be reported from Wednesday.
The number of patients in hospital is also steadily climbing, now at 2525 with 184 in intensive care.
Victoria reported 34,836 cases and 18 deaths.
Queensland has 23,630 new infections and three deaths a day after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced they will drop all border controls from 1am Saturday.
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