An update to this story was issued on 15 April.
There have been no new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the ACT in the past 24 hours, leaving the ACT’s total at 103.
A total of 75 cases have recovered from COVID-19 and have been released from self-isolation. This is almost three-quarters of all confirmed cases in the ACT.
There are currently three COVID-19 patients in Canberra hospitals. Two are in ICU, one of whom is being ventilated.
The remainder are isolating at home with ACT Health support.
The ACT has recorded two deaths, while the number of negative tests in the ACT is now 6291.
Lower testing over Easter long weekend
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman welcomed the recent low numbers of confirmed cases but cautioned against complacency.
“What we really need now from the community is to continue with the physical distancing and excellent hand and respiratory hygiene that has helped us keep our numbers so low so far,” Dr Coleman said.
“While the ACT has only recorded one new case in the past four days, which is obviously good news, we did see a drop off in people presenting for testing over the Easter long weekend.
“Even with our increased surveillance, through testing symptomatic people who otherwise don’t meet the criteria, we still had a lower number of tests overall than we usually see.
“Other Australian jurisdictions also experienced a drop in people presenting for testing over the Easter long weekend but we expect this to start to increase again this week.”
On Monday 6 April, ACT Health began surveillance testing of randomly selected symptomatic people who didn’t otherwise meet the testing criteria. With falling numbers of returned overseas travellers and close contacts of confirmed cases, the number of random tests was increased over the recent long weekend.
Currently there have been 103 tests administered to people in that category, all coming back negative.
“I do expect to see more cases in Canberra and the ACT health system is prepared for that eventuality,” Dr Coleman said.
“We constantly review our testing criteria to ensure it is appropriate for the current stage of the pandemic and will continue to do so.
General information
ACT Health is continuing to take appropriate public health action in line with national guidelines.
It’s important for Canberrans to remain calm and keep informed, and to keep focussed on the practical things we can all do to protect ourselves, our families and the most vulnerable in our community.
The ACT Government has established a new dedicated COVID- 19 website for all information about the health and economic response to the pandemic in the ACT. For further information visit covid19.act.gov.au.
The ACT Government has also established a new helpline to assist Canberrans through the challenges of COVID-19. The COVID-19 Helpline is now live and will operate on 02 6207 7244 between 8am and 8pm daily.
We encourage all Canberrans to continue to stay up to date on developments through the new COVID-19 website, as well as ACT Health social media channels.
People who are concerned and want further information on the virus, can also call the Australian Government’s Coronavirus Health Information Line on1800 020 080. The line operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For details on how the ACT stats compare to other jurisdictions across Australia, visit the Australian Government Department of Health website. This information is updated daily.
