Another 25 cases recorded in the ACT, hospital cluster still under investigation

coronavirus, covid-19, lockdown, the ACT, Andrew Barr, coronavirus, outbreak

Another 25 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the ACT in the 24 hours up to 8pm on Friday, with the source of the outbreak at Canberra Hospital’s special care nursery still under investigation. Of the new infections, 12 were linked to known cases. Nine were in quarantine during their entire infectious period and six were under investigation. There have been no new cases linked to the nursery. On Saturday, 17 people were in hospital across the territory, including five in ICU and on ventilators. Residents aged 20 to 24 have now crossed the 75 per cent first dose vaccination threshold. Over 97 per cent of territory residents 12 and over had now received at least one jab, and 69.3 per cent were fully-vaccinated. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr reiterated he wanted as close to a 100 per cent vaccination rate as possible. “We’re going to work hard to ensure that anyone who wants to have access to a vaccine can access a first dose, before the 15th of October,” he said. The latest outbreak has risen to a total of 1172. The ACT was managing 430 active cases, and 736 had recovered. The chief minister indicated the Saturday press conference would be the last of its kind, and there would be no live press conference held on Sunday. Statements would instead be issued on weekends. Chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said none of the cases which had spent time in the community had been assessed as posing a transmission to others. MORE COVID-19 NEWS: “While this is great news so far, I do need to note that due to the timing of things coming in fairly late in the afternoon early evening, 16 do remain under early investigation,” she said. Dr Coleman confirmed the Canberra Hospital special care nursery cluster, which began when an infant contracted the virus, remained at five. She said the source of the infection was still being assessed by an ongoing investigation. Four babies were casual contacts, along with a group of carers who could visit them if they tested negative to the virus on Saturday. “But then we do have some other babies and carers who are close contacts. They’ll need to be quarantined for a little bit longer, until Monday, with a negative test,” Dr Coleman said. “I want reassure everyone that there is a lot of work going on within this special care nursery and in the surrounds to provide as much non-contact support between the babies and their carers. “There’s also been some work done on providing express milk deliveries. So all of those needs that we can meet while maintaining quarantine are being conducted.” It comes after the ACT recorded 40 cases on Thursday. Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

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