The ACT has recorded nine new locally acquired confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours to 8pm last night.

Seven people have been hospitalised with or due to COVID-19.

“Some are also being treated for pre-existing conditions,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

One person remains in intensive care in critical condition; an unvaccinated woman in her 40s.

Eight of the new cases have been linked to existing ones, while the other one remains under investigation.

Two of the eight linked new cases are household contacts of existing cases. The remaining six have been linked to existing clusters.

One of the new cases was linked to CIT Reid, bringing the total number of close exposure sites where transmission has occurred to 10.

Three of the new confirmed cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.

Four of the remaining six were known to be infectious in the community; the remaining two are still being assessed.

There are now 176 cases associated with this outbreak.

“These numbers are still going to jump around from day to day, we do not yet have a trend,” Mr Barr said.

The Chief Minister flagged that due to the existing case and close contact numbers, the ACT will not be in a position to exit lockdown before 2 September.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman is reviewing public health directions for the week ahead, with the two-week checkpoint tomorrow.

“Now is not the time to be significantly easing restrictions, however some changes are being considered,” Mr Barr said.

Settings for next week will be announced before the weekend.

The Chief Minister said indicators like no new cases being infectious in the community and confirmed links between cases will be considered before “gently stepping” out of lockdown.

A total of 6,695 were tests conducted yesterday.

All testing sites are open today with Gold Creek providing targeted testing for the Harrison School community only.

There are 10,800 close contacts in quarantine and over 5,500 casual contacts in Canberra.

There are also now over 400 exposure locations spread across the ACT.

Around 2,700 jabs were administered across Canberra at ACT Government-led clinics yesterday.

Another 2,000 were delivered through GPs and pharmacists.

“This continues a strong trend of vaccination in the Territory,” Mr Barr said.

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