2 September 2022

ACT records 125th COVID-19 fatality; cases fall for seventh week in a row

| Lottie Twyford
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A man in his 90s has become the second death this month. Photo: Canberra Health Services.

A man in his 90s has become the Territory’s 125th COVID-19 fatality overnight and a further 163 (74 PCR and 89 RAT) cases have been reported.

It’s the second pandemic-related death this month and follows a grim August when 31 deaths with COVID were recorded.

The number of active infections has declined again to 1110 and 202,895 cases have been reported since March 2020.

There are 91 people in hospital with the virus, but no one is in the ICU and no one requires ventilation.

No schools have cohorts learning remotely today.

Of the Territory’s five to 15 population, 77.8 per cent have received two doses of vaccine; 78.1 per cent of those aged 16 and over have received three doses; 57.3 per cent of those aged 50 and over have received four doses.

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ACT Health’s weekly epidemiological report, released this morning, showed that cases have fallen for the seventh week in a row.

In the week covered by the report (22 to 28 August), the ACT recorded 1571 new COVID-19 cases – the lowest number of weekly cases recorded in the ACT all year.

Nine per cent of those cases were people who had previously been infected with COVID-19.

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The seven-day rolling case mean decreased to 160 to 260 cases – a new low for 2022 – down from 250 to 350 cases per day in the previous week.

PCR tests decreased to 8481 from 10,344 tests. The test positivity seven-day rolling mean also dropped to 10 per cent compared to 12 per cent. Health said that’s the lowest it has been in the ACT since the first week of January 2022.

Health detected the Omicron BA.2.75 subvariant for the first time in an individual who had not recently returned from overseas, indicating local transmission of that variant.

The health directorate says it will monitor this subvariant.

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Interstate, NSW has reported 21 deaths overnight and 4169 new cases of COVID-19.

There are now 1726 people in hospital with the virus and 36 patients in ICUs around the state.

The state’s health department said COVID-19-related deaths are notified from a range of sources and not all occurred in the week they are reported as there is sometimes a delay between a death occurring and it being notified.

Victoria has recorded 17 deaths overnight and 2393 cases of COVID-19.

There are 295 people hospitalised with the virus and 13 patients in the state’s intensive care units.

The Victorian Government yesterday rolled back its work-from-home recommendation.

The state’s pandemic declaration is remaining in place until midway through October.

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