The ACT recorded 19 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases overnight, bringing the total number of known active cases in the community to 28.

Yesterday, 5,723 tests were conducted across ACT, which, according to Chief Minister Andrew Barr, gives “a very clear picture of where the virus is” when combined with the 6,000 tests conducted on Saturday.

There are now thousands of close contacts and a growing list of over 45 exposure sites; more than 6,500 people have self-identified as close contacts.

Currently no cases are hospitalised “for COVID-related needs”, according to Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman.

The Chief Health Officer said today’s spike in case numbers “is not unexpected”.

“This growth in cases is what we see when we talk about cases coming into a community where there is very little restrictions on its spread,” she said.

“This is a concerning progression, but it is not actually, for want of a better term, particularly alarming.”

Dr Coleman advised the ACT will reach a point in the next week at the earliest, where new cases have spent the entire period of infectiousness in quarantine.

“I would anticipate another seven days until we’re reporting new cases being in quarantine”.

Aged care worker ‘unknowingly infectious’ during three shifts

One of the new cases is an aged care worker who was “unknowingly infectious” during three shifts at Greenway Views Village in Tuggeranong from 10 to 12 August.

This marks the first time the ACT has recorded a case of COVID-19 in a retirement village or residential age care facility.

Overnight, ACT Health has worked “very closely” with the village; the facility has been placed into lockdown.

“Our priority is to minimise the risk of transmission and protect the residents and staff,” Dr Coleman said.

All residents and staff onsite will be tested by an outreach team.

The worker had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. It is not known if the individual works at other aged care facilities.

Lockdown extended fortnight to 2 September

It was also announced today the ACT Government will extend the lockdown a further two weeks until Thursday 2 September.

The decision was made given the growing number of cases and exposure sites, with numbers expected to grow in the coming days “until we start to see the impacts of lockdown”.

“We will see a rise in cases and then as the impact of lockdown starts to work progressively moving forward, those cases will fall,” Dr Coleman said.

According to the Chief Health Officer, there was a window of “four to six days” when infectious cases were in the community before it was detected.

“We picked it up early,” she said.

According to Dr Coleman, every case detected will have been infectious in the community for at least first seven days of the outbreak.

“Just need to ride out that wave,” she said.

The Chief Minister said arrangements and details of the extension are being finalised, with a “comprehensive set of information” for businesses and the community to be made available at tomorrow’s press conference.

“If we can end the lockdown earlier than 2 September, we will,” Mr Barr said.

Read more on the ACT lockdown extension here.

Lyneham High community to undergo testing

As reported this morning, one of the new cases is a Lyneham High student, which means the school community will go through prioritised testing today and tomorrow.

The student who tested positive attended Lyneham High on 9-12 August during their infectious period.

The case was also a member of the Instrumental Music Program at UC Kaleen High, which means those who attended a rehearsal on 9 August will require “prioritised” testing too.

ACT Minister for Education Yvette Berry described the rehearsal space as a “discrete room with a discrete access area”, meaning the rest of school community won’t be affected.

Music Program students, Lyneham High students in Year 8, plus siblings, staff, adults, and visitors who are close contacts will be tested at the Gold Creek School pop-up site between 12-4pm today, Monday 16 August.

Lyneham High students in Years 7, 9 and 10 will receive prioritised testing at Brindabella Park with windows of time allocated per year group.

The Year 7 window is from 12-4pm, Year 9 from 4-7pm, and Year 10 from 7-10pm.

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