ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says next few days are ‘critical’ in Covid-19 outbreak
The ACT’s Covid-19 outbreak now stands at 45 people, with Chief Minister Andrew Barr saying the next few days are “critical” in determining the next stage.
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Canberra’s Covid-19 outbreak has continued to grow with authorities warning the next few days will be “critical” to the capital’s ability to contain the spread.
The ACT recorded 17 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the total active cases to 45 people, although none are being treated in hospital. Concerningly, eight of the new cases are yet to be linked as the list of exposure sites gets longer.
Chief minister Andrew Barr urged Canberrans to keep testing numbers high after a record day of more than 7300 tests in the ACT.
“Right now, we are in the middle of the highest number of cases that I hope we experience,’’ Mr Barr said.
“The point of the lockdown and the success of the lockdown is very much contingent on what happens over the next few days, and this is a really critical time.”
Gyms, pubs and the Canberra Institute of Technology were among the exposed venues and ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith confirmed that three positive cases had visited two separate campuses of the CIT.
The escalating crisis has pushed Ms Stephen-Smith to call on anyone with nursing training to step up and help health authorities as they drastically scale up testing capacity to keep up with the highly infectious Delta strain.
“If you have a nursing background and you want to volunteer your services, if you’re not currently working as part of the current Covid-19 response, please do get in contact with Canberra Health Services,” she said. “They would love to hear from people who want to reinvigorate their nursing capacity.”
It comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said testing rates in his state were “not high enough” after it recorded another 24 local cases from more than 31,500 tests. Mr Andrews said that vaccination was the long-term approach to getting out of the pandemic but high testing rates remained the best short-term solution.
“If you register any symptoms at all, please come forwards and get tested,” he said.
Six cases have now been connected to an illegal Melbourne engagement part that was heavily criticised by Mr Andrews and health authorities. But on Tuesday he defended members of the Jewish community who had been harassed after video footage from the event was circulated on social media.
“It was an illegal function. Those people are being dealt with. Them breaking the rules was not a reflection on the Jewish community more broadly,” he said. “Anti-Semitism is unacceptable and evil.”
Concerns were also raised about children catching the virus after Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said there had been possible transmission at a playground before the latest round of restrictions had put a ban on them.
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Originally published as ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says next few days are ‘critical’ in Covid-19 outbreak
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