An update to this story was posted on 21 April.
There has been one new case of COVID-19 recorded in the ACT in the past 24 hours, bringing the Territory’s total up to 104.
The individual is a male in his 40s who acquired the virus overseas.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the new case returned to Canberra prior to the mandatory quarantine period being introduced.
“It was identified as part of our contact tracing to identify the source of exposure for one of our cases under investigation, so this has actually been identified through serology, indicating that it was a past test.
“But we have gone backwards to ensure, to see whether there was any possible risk of exposure when this individual may have been infectious, and we have completed that exercise now.”
There is currently one COVID-19 patient in the Canberra Hospital. The remainder are isolating at home with ACT Health support.
Dr Coleman said this hospitalized case was included in previous updates last week.
“Over the weekend this case was removed from our hospitalized tally because we had determined that this person had cleared the COVID-19 virus.
“However on returning back to work on Monday we have discovered that this patient is still in hospital, and because they’re still in hospital as a result of consequences of the infection we are maintaining them in our case count,” she said.
A total of 91 cases have recovered from COVID-19 and have been released from self-isolation.
The ACT has recorded three deaths.
The number of negative tests in the ACT is now 6959.
Dr Coleman thanked Canberrans for helping stop the flow of new COVID-19 cases but reminded them that the pandemic isn’t over.
“With a great contribution from the whole community we have managed to put the ACT in a very strong position,” Dr Coleman said.
“We need to keep this effort going to make sure we don’t get a fresh spike in cases that could easily turn into the types of numbers we see in other parts of the world.
“I thank Canberrans for their efforts so far and I remind them that their responsible actions are helping to save lives.
“This pandemic is still ongoing and large gatherings are still dangerous for our society … With another long weekend coming up I again ask people to be responsible and to stay at home.
“I strongly encourage people to find ways of commemorating ANZAC Day that are consistent with the rules around physical distancing,” Dr Coleman said.
The ACT Government has established a 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’s COVID-19 Helpline is now live and will operate on 02 6207 7244 between 8am and 8pm daily.
People who are concerned and want further information on the virus, can also call the Australian Government’s Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 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.
