The ACT government hopes to end Canberra’s lockdown as scheduled following a new daily high of 52 coronavirus infections.

Two COVID patients, a man and woman both in their 80s, were on Friday revealed to have died while receiving palliative care.

They were residents of the Calvary Haydon Retirement Community.

It took the ACT’s virus death toll to six since the start of the pandemic. 

A source could be found for 40 of Friday’s cases. 

At least 31 were in the community while infectious while 17 were in quarantine the whole time. 

Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman hoped the ACT won’t need to deviate from its mid-October reopening plan.

“All of that will play into next week’s discussions. My aim is to leave the settings as we have announced moving forward,” she told reporters. 

Chief Minister Andrew Barr described the figure as a shock and an important reminder the virus remained active in the community. 

The previous daily case high was 32 infections. 

“When we get to higher vaccination rates and we start to further reduce our public health safety measures, daily case numbers like this will become the norm. We are not at that point yet,” he said.

“I don’t want to rule anything in or out based on one day’s numbers. They’re not good. They’re not where we want them to be. But one day isn’t a trend.”

The ACT on Friday relaxed restrictions slightly, including allowing two visitors to a home.

There are 275 active infections across Canberra, 11 of them in hospital including three in intensive care requiring ventilation.

AAP

Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.