ACT records 16 new local coronavirus cases, bringing Canberra outbreak to 83

A concerning fact has been revealed about nearly half of Canberra’s Covid-19 cluster, which has now grown to 83 cases.

Canberra has added another 16 local coronavirus cases to its growing outbreak, with children and young people getting infected at a high rate.

Out of the 83 cases in the outbreak, the vast majority are aged under 44.

Of the active cases in the ACT, 43 per cent are aged under 17.

Forty-six per cent are aged between 18 and 44, 10 per cent between 45 and 64, and the remaining cases are older than 65.

“We’re seeing more young people in our case numbers due to transmission occurring in the schools in this current outbreak,” ACT deputy chief health officer Vanessa Johnston said.

There are six different schools listed on the ACT Health website for exposure sites:

• Gold Creek School
• Lyneham High School
• UC High School Kaleen
• Harrison School
• Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School
• St Thomas Aquinas Primary School

None of the infected Canberrans have required hospital care, Dr Johnston said.

“All cases continue to be supported by ACT Health in their home,” she said.

Canberra authorities are scrambling to contain the outbreak. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

There are now about 240 exposure sites in the territory, and more than 19,000 people have been identified as close contacts.

Five of the new cases are still under investigation, and the rest have been linked to previous ones.

The total number of mystery cases is nine, Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

“This is a crucial time in our public health response,” Mr Barr told reporters on Thursday.

UPDATED: ⚠️New close contact and casual contact exposure locations – 10:50am 19 August ⚠️

 You can find the full list of exposure locations here: https://t.co/bL6UvAP6E8. 

   The declaration form for these new sites will be available at 12noon today. pic.twitter.com/rZZzqCCU6f

— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) August 19, 2021

“Please stay at home and support this effort. We need to drive these case numbers down to zero.”

The ACT was supposed to get out of lockdown this Thursday, but the stay-at-home orders have been extended until September 2.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the territory had broken a testing record, with nearly 8800 tests completed in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

“So the good news is that we are getting on top of the testing demand thanks to the great efforts of staff across both our public and our private systems,” she said.

“But I'm conscious that many contacts will soon be coming up for their second test on day five since their potential exposure, so we will of course continue to monitor demand.”