A man in his 80s has died with COVID and 66 patients in ACT hospitals have the virus, as the ACT recorded 734 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday.

The latest fatality brings the death toll in the ACT to 26 since the pandemic began, and was the fifth this week.

It comes on the same day Australia recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic since the first case was detected two years ago. This is despite vaccination rates continuing to climb, with 98.6 per cent of ACT residents aged 12 and over “fully vaccinated” and 44.9 per cent of adults having received their booster shot.

The ACT’s child vaccination levels are still the highest out of any state or territory, with 63.3 per cent of five to 11-year-olds having received their first dose.

On Friday, there were 734 new cases in the ACT, with 478 of them coming from PCR tests with the remaining 256 from rapid antigen tests.

Hospitalisations have decreased from 73 to 66 patients with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

However, the number of patients being treated in intensive care has risen from four to five, with one of those on a ventilator.

ACT Health continues to restrict access to health facilities in the Territory for visitors “unless in exceptional circumstances such as end of life, birthing or for paediatric care”.

There are 4,744 active cases (2,952 PCR and 1,792 RAT), bringing the total number of cases in the ACT to 34,352 since the pandemic began in March 2020. The 26 COVID deaths recorded in the same period represent a death rate of 0.076 per cent to the virus in the ACT.

With AAP

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