Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said Canberrans should avoid travelling to Sydney unless they absolutely have to. Photo: Dominic Giannini.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says Canberrans should avoid travelling to the Greater Sydney region unless they absolutely have to after the Bondi cluster grew by 10 to 21 on Tuesday (22 June).
Eight of the cases reported in today’s figures were already in quarantine and nine have been directly linked to the cluster, but one continues to concern health authorities as they try to figure out how a schoolboy in Sydney’s east was exposed to the virus.
“We know how quickly these clusters can sometimes develop and can have an impact on people when they come back to the ACT, either having to be subject to stay at home or quarantine requirements,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“We already have a number of people in quarantine and we would like to avoid people travelling to Sydney, other than if they absolutely need to, and then having to come back and end up having been at an exposure site and going into quarantine.”
There were 136 people quarantining in the ACT after visiting exposure sites as of yesterday.
Ms Stephen-Smith said people who have visited the Greater Sydney region should continue to check exposure locations and fill out an ACT declaration form at www.covid19.act.gov.au if they have visited any exposure site.
A full list of exposure sites can be found on the NSW Health website.
However, the ACT will not move to mimic restrictions for people returning from Greater Sydney as it did with stay at home orders for people who returned from Victoria during the last outbreak.
Sydney-siders will need to continue to wear masks indoors and on public transport for another week.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, will monitor the situation in NSW closely, but no health advice on the matter has been provided to her at this time.
“We will continue to consider appropriate public health directions and measures that might need to be put in place in terms of people who return from Sydney,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Meanwhile, vaccination appointments in the ACT continue to fill up after the government announced yesterday that it would open a second Pfizer hub at the airport precinct.
Appointments for the second Pfizer hub, which will be located at 30 Nomad Drive in Pialligo, will commence next Tuesday (29 June).
Appointments at the new centre have been booked up until 1 July. The Garran Pfizer hub is booked out until 21 July with only odd appointments from cancellations popping up earlier.
The ACT is due to receive 7020 Pfizer doses on 28 June before supply increases to 10,530 on 5 July and for at least the following three weeks.
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