As Omicron infections surge across the ACT, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said an additional mass vaccination clinic will be set up from late January to deal with large numbers of booster shots and child vaccines.

The second clinic will be re-established at Canberra Airport, which had previously been open during 2021’s Delta wave.

It will be run in addition to the other mass vaccination clinic being operated out of the Australian Institute of Sport.

Mr Barr said it was estimated the two sites would be able to provide more than 32,000 boosters per week, more than the high point seen during the height of the vaccine rollout during the ACT’s lockdown.

The second clinic will open from 24 January.

“We strongly encourage all Canberrans to get their boosters when they’re eligible. And if you’re a parent or carer of a child aged five to 11, book them in for their first dose,” Barr said.

“The ACT government’s public health objectives remain the same – to reduce community transmission, minimise pressure on our hospitals and protect those most vulnerable.”

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said extra capacity to vaccinate was important as booster timeframes reduce and child vaccines start.

“The reduction in the interval between second dose and booster from five months to four months means almost 75,000 additional Canberrans are now eligible for their boosters,” she said.

“This number will increase even more when the interval is further reduced to three months on 31 January,” she said.

“Nearly 59,000 ACT residents aged 18 years or over have already received a third shot or booster and we have around 20,000 booster bookings at our ACT government clinics and 9700 bookings for five- to 11-year-olds.

The chief minister said there had been more than 75,000 PCR tests conducted in the past two weeks, or one-in-six Canberrans.

A surge centre in Canberra’s south, set up during the start of the pandemic, will now be used as a dedicated clinic for COVID-19 cases.

The centre will be used for patients who have the virus but need treatment for non-life threatening conditions from 10 January.

Only patients with respiratory symptoms will be treated in a dedicated COVID-19 ward.

The clinic will result in a walk-in centre in Canberra’s north being temporarily closed to help deal with staffing issues.

Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman also outlined changes to quarantine measures following the surge in cases in the ACT.

Contacts will now be reclassified as either high, medium or low risk.

Positive cases will still need to undergo seven days of quarantine, with household contacts also requiring a PCR test.

High-risk contacts, those who have spent a considerable amount of time at home with a positive case, will still need to undergo quarantine.

A contact who has been with a positive case at a place such as a restaurant or bar for a few hours will be classified as medium risk, and will need to have a rapid test and another one six days after.

A low-risk contact, someone who has only spent a short amount of time with a positive case, will need to only monitor for symptoms.

Dr Coleman said it would only be a matter of time before 1,000 daily cases would be reported in the ACT.

Testing clinics in the ACT have been under considerable strain in recent days, with lines stretching for several hours and many being turned away due to sites reaching capacity.

The latest health figures showed there were more than 2,600 tests conducted at government-run clinics in the 24 hours to 9am.

The testing numbers are expected to be higher once non-government clinics are taken into account.

Health Minister Rachel-Stephen Smith said hospitalisations in the ACT were expected to rise next week.

Modelling has shown the number of COVID-related hospitalisations from January 10 to be between 19 and 60 patients.

Ms Stephen-Smith said the rise was expected due to the high number of infections in the community and the high levels of transmission associated with the Omicron variant.

There are about 70 hospital staff who have been furloughed from work due to being a contact of a positive case, but officials said the health system is equipped to handle the situation.

AAP

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