Second infant recorded in 41 new Canberra Covid cases

A second infant at a Canberra hospital has tested positive for Covid-19 as authorities scramble to fund the source of the infection.

A second infant has tested positive to Covid-19 as the number of cases associated a Canberra Hospital special care nursery increases to five overnight.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Thursday announced the ACT had recorded 41 new cases of the virus, bringing the national capital’s outbreak total to 1107.

Ms Stephen-Smith was unable to provide an update on the condition of the two babies but did say neither were currently in a critical condition.

Two carers who went into the unit at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children have also tested positive for the virus. As a result of the exposure, 28 staff have are in isolation.

The cluster linked to the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children has risen to five. Picture: Thinkstock

The source of the infection remains under investigation it’s expected the cluster will grow over the coming days.

“It’s not unexpected that the source would still be under investigation at this time,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“This is an evolving situation, only in the last sort of just over 24 hours, 36 hours, so I’m not at all surprised that we haven’t been able to definitively identify what the source of that cluster has been.”

Of the 41 new cases, 14 are linked to known cases and clusters, while 24 are still under investigation.

Just seven cases were in isolation for the entirety of their infectious period.

The territory currently has 15 people in hospital – aged from their 20s to 60s – with seven in intensive care and six requiring ventilation.

Eleven of the 15 in ICU are unvaccinated and four have had one dose of the vaccine.

Canberrans have been encouraged to get tested as soon as they identify symptoms. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The Health Minister dismissed concerns the number of patients requiring ventilation, telling reporters the numbers were in line with what the government had planned for.

“Over the next few weeks we expect to have around 30 Covid patients in hospital and around 10 in ICU,” Ms Rachel-Stephen Smith said.

“Our Covid-19 capacity is around 20 in ICU. That would have an impact on our ICU capacity, but this is exactly where we expected to be.”

It comes as the ACT hits a major vaccine milestone, with 70 per cent of the population aged 16 plus fully vaccinated. Over 96 per cent of the eligible population have now received at least one dose of the vaccine.