ACT records 28 new local Covid-19 cases, including a newborn baby

A newborn baby has contracted Covid-19 in a Canberra hospital as the ACT records 28 new infections.

The ACT has recorded 28 new local coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period, bringing the national capital’s total outbreak to 1066.

The new cases included a baby who was diagnosed at Canberra Hospital‘s Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the baby had been in the neonatal intensive care unit for some time, and began developing Covid-19 symptoms on Tuesday evening.

Ms Stephen-Smith said the patient had since been moved to a special Covid-19 ward.

Staff and family who came in contact with the infected baby have been advised to get tested and enter quarantine.

Canberra Health Services chief executive Dave Peffer said authorities did not yet know how the baby contracted Covid-19.

“At this stage we don‘t have a known source of transmission, that is something that the team is looking at very closely,” he said.

“We‘re working in partnership with public health, and we will look at that in the coming days, to identify that.”

The ACT has recorded 28 new local coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period. Picture: Newswire/Gary Ramage

Of the 28 new cases in the ACT, health officials have been able to link 19 to existing outbreaks, but nine transmissions are still under investigation.

Eleven of the new cases were in isolation during their entire infectious period, and at least five spent time infectious out in the community.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced that another Canberran had died of the virus.

A woman in her 70s who had been receiving end of life care at an aged care facility passed away overnight, bringing the ACT’s total Covid-19 death toll to six.

Sixteen Canberrans are now in hospital with Covid-19, including seven people in the intensive care unit.