UPDATED: 89 COVID-19 cases now linked to schools; aged care and construction clusters emerge

UPDATED 5 pm: Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith has today confirmed there are now 89 COVID-19 cases linked to schools across the Territory as clusters have emerged at construction sites and another aged care facility.

11 cases are now linked to the LDK Construction Site in Greenway and new cases have emerged at St Andrews Village residential aged care facility in Hughes.

Ms Stephen-Smith said the cases at St Andrews are a mixture of staff and residents.

Charles Weston School in Coombs has also been listed as a COVID-19 exposure site for the dates of last Thursday, 11 November and Friday, 12 November.

That’s 22 schools now affected by COVID-19 since they reopened for on-campus learning last month.

Duffy Primary School has been listed for an additional day – Friday, 12 November.

Ms Stephen-Smith was also able to confirm that transmission of the virus has occurred at three schools – Wanniassa School (Junior Campus), Erindale College and Duffy Primary School.

There are 56 cases now linked to Wanniassa School.

Ms Stephen-Smith said there are still fewer than five cases linked to Erindale College and only five linked to Duffy Primary School.

56 cases are now linked to the initial cluster at Wanniassa School (Junior Campus), she told the press today.

The Minister was unable to say why transmission has occurred at some schools and not others.

UPDATED 11 am: The ACT has recorded 10 new cases of COVID-19 to 8 pm last night.

Yesterday the ACT recorded 15 new cases.

There are 175 active cases in the ACT and one person is in hospital with COVID.

There are 216 people in hospital with COVID and 32 in ICU.

Of the state’s 16-plus population, 91.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Yesterday the state recorded 196 new cases and one death.

In Victoria, there are 860 new cases and five deaths.

Yesterday, the state recorded 905 new cases and four deaths

Around 87 per cent of the state’s 12-plus population is now fully vaccinated.

9:25 am: Three more schools across Canberra – in Melba, Bonython and Weston Creek – have been listed as COVID-19 exposure sites over the weekend.

Mt Rogers Primary School in Melba and Bonython Primary School were exposed to the virus from Tuesday, 9 November to Thursday, 11 November. Duffy Primary School is listed as an exposure location from Monday, 8 November to Thursday, 11 November.

Thursday, 11 November has now also been added as an exposure date for Orana Steiner School.

It takes the total number of schools and school-related venues exposed to the virus to 21.

Currently, no ACT public schools are closed due to COVID-19.

The ACT’s further extension to the Public Health (Emergency) Declaration also came into effect on Saturday (13 November). It’s now extended until February next year.

An overnight bus route from Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station to London Circuit, Canberra, has been listed as a close contact exposure location over the weekend. Greyhound Bus Number 376 travelled between 10 pm on Sunday, 7 November, and 6 am on Monday, 8 November.

Other casual exposure sites included SUN Nails in Weston on Thursday, 11 November between 4:20 pm and 5:40 pm, Best Friends Tuggeranong on Tuesday, 9 November, between 4 pm and 4:30 pm and The Floral Society in Fyshwick also on Tuesday, 9 November, between 9 am and 1:15 pm.

The RUC is also a casual contact location on Sunday, 7 November, between 3 pm and 4 pm, as is Fiction Club on the same day between midnight and 2:30 am.

Updated vaccination data will be provided later today by ACT Health.

On Friday (12 November), the Territory had hit 96 per cent of its eligible (12 plus) population fully vaccinated.

More to come.