Sixteen new Covid-19 cases dangerous for the ACT

The ACT has recorded 16 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the number of active cases to 83, with 19,000 people identified as close contacts.

Lake Burley Griffin during the Covid-19 lockdown in Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage

The ACT has recorded 16 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the number of active cases to 83, with 19,000 people identified as close contacts.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr warned the territory was at a crucial point and risked an extended lockdown if case numbers were not brought under control. “We have to stay at home,” he said. “This is how we bring down our case numbers. There are no easy choices. It’s often a choice of the least-worst outcome. We ­either stop this virus now or we live like Sydney for the rest of this year.”

The territory’s deputy chief health officer, Vanessa Johnston, said people aged 17 and under ­accounted for 43 per cent of cases. This included a three-year-old. People aged 18 to 44 ­accounted for 46 per cent of cases.

“We’re seeing more young people in our case numbers due to transmission occurring in the schools,” she said.

The number of exposure sites increased again on Thursday, rising to 240, including a childcare centre and a general practice.

The pressure of the outbreak on health workers has continued to mount with more than 600 now in isolation. Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the University of Canberra and Gungahlin pathology collection centres had been forced to temporarily shut due to staffing shortages.

She said the territory had broken a daily testing record, with 8800 carried out.

Mr Barr warned it would be unlikely Canberra would snap back to the minimal level of restrictions enjoyed by the territory when it was Covid-free.

“There is no world in which you can just seal Canberra up in a bubble and have it operate as if there is no Delta variant spreading around Australia,” he said.