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Tuesday, December 31, 2024

ACT’s ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown to be released next week

A ‘roadmap’ that will guide the ACT out of lockdown over the coming months is slated to be released next Tuesday, according to ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

While “many public health measures” will be maintained for the weeks ahead while the vaccination rate increases, the next steps will be outlined on Tuesday.

“Our approach will support a gradual and safe reopening that supports people back into work,” Mr Barr said.

The Chief Minister said the path “we will take” will be predominantly informed by a number of factors falling under the umbrella of health advice.

“Local conditions, local vaccination rates and local epidemiology will be the main driving force behind our next steps and where we will go over the coming months,” he said.

What’s happening in NSW will also be a factor in the ACT lockdown roadmap, but not the “predominant factor”.

“What’s happening in surrounding NSW is an input into risk factor,” Mr Barr said.

It is expected the steps forward will revolve around vaccination targets, with the Chief Minister declaring the next eight weeks a “race to get as many people fully vaccinated as quickly as possible”.

However, he refrained from suggesting there would be incentives for those who are fully vaccinated once the Territory hits 70 per cent.

He anticipates when the ACT hits that 70 per cent mark, around 90-95 per cent of the population will have had one dose.

The difference between 70 and 80 per cent is approximately 37,000 vaccinations, which, at a rate of 8,000 vaccinations a day, equals just a further five days of vaccinating.

“Why would we go through the entire rigmarole of putting in place such a complex set of systems with fraud risk, with compliance nightmare associated with it, for the sake of five days of extra vaccinations,” Mr Barr said.

“We then get to a range of human rights issues and questions about ‘would you be denying access to essential services for people who are unvaccinated? no, you would not’, as a fundamental principle of this jurisdiction.

“We’re not going to say ‘no you can’t come to hospital or access health services because you’re not vaccinated’.”

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