ACT records two deaths with COVID-19; daily case numbers continue to rise, near 1200

The Territory has recorded two deaths with COVID-19 and 1194 new cases.

A man in his 80s and a woman aged over 100 have become the 40th and 41st reported pandemic casualties, although ACT Health said one of the deaths occurred in February and has only been reported today.

Health authorities have extended their condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased people.

There are now 47 people in hospital with the virus, including three in ICU and one requiring ventilation.

Yesterday, there were 1139 new cases and 48 patients with COVID-19 in the Territory’s hospitals with five in ICU and one requiring ventilation.

The 1194 (630 PCR and 564 RAT) new cases of COVID-19 reported this morning take the Territory’s local active caseload to 5917 (3038 PCR and 2879 RAT). Since the pandemic began, 77,714 (50,042 PCR and 27,672 RAT) cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the ACT.

The double-dose vaccination rate for the ACT’s five-plus population is now 98.1 per cent, and 73.1 per cent of residents aged 16 and older have received a booster.

Of ACT residents aged five to 11, 52.1 per cent had received two doses.

ACT Health is now providing a slightly more detailed breakdown of daily cases on its website.

A breakdown of new cases by age group and test type is now provided, although today’s data has yet to be updated.

According to information provided yesterday, 328 of the 1139 cases were in the 25 to 39 age group.

ACT Health will begin issuing more detailed weekly epidemiological reports tomorrow, although it’s still unclear exactly what information they will provide.

Until now, weekly reports on the ACT’s COVID-19 outbreak have only amounted to one page with a few dot-points provided.

The provision of additional information comes after the department spent the last week claiming it could not provide details like the vaccination status or co-morbidities of individuals who died or are hospitalised with the virus due to privacy reasons.

Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Vanessa Johhnston said last week the small size of the ACT amplified these concerns as individuals could be more easily identified than in larger jurisdictions.

However, a spokesperson for ACT Health said earlier this week information about vaccination status could now be provided through “datasets of a sufficient size so as to not identify individuals” as long as it was known.

Interstate, NSW has reported 17 deaths overnight and 22,107 new cases.

There are now 1326 people in hospital with the virus and 39 people in ICUs around the state.

Victoria has reported four deaths overnight and an additional 11,292 cases of COVID-19.

There are now 312 people hospitalised with the virus, while 14 patients are in the state’s intensive care units.