Schools extend remote learning; ACT records 67th COVID-19 death

A woman in her 90s has died with COVID-19 overnight, taking the pandemic death toll in the ACT to 67.

The ACT has recorded 821 cases of COVID-19 in the last reporting period and another primary school has sent some students home to learn remotely.

Existing teacher shortages in the Territory have been exacerbated by the pandemic and other winter illnesses meaning schools have been forced to send cohorts home as on-campus learning has become impossible.

In the week ending Sunday, 5 June, 474 cases of COVID-19 were reported in 69 public schools.

Students in Years 3 to 6 at Fraser Primary School have been sent home until Tuesday, 14 June, although they aren’t expected to return to campus until Thursday of that week as Wednesday (15 June) is a pupil-free day.

Remote learning has been extended for Year 2 students at Margaret Hendry School and Macgregor Primary School. They will now be at home until the end of this week.

Years 7 and 8 at Kingsford Smith School, Years 9 and 10 at Lanyon High School and Namadgi School, two senior classes at Malkara School, and Years 3 to 6 at North Ainslie Primary School will also spend the rest of this week learning remotely.

Last week, the ACT Legislative Assembly agreed to inquire into how many teachers are needed to fix chronic staff shortages across ACT schools.

It’s information the ACT Opposition has long requested.

The 821 (465 PCR and 356 RAT) new infections overnight take the total number of active infections in the Territory to 4261 (2258 PCR and 2003 RAT).

On Saturday (4 June), there were 763 cases; on Sunday (5 June), 567; and on Monday (6 June), 587.

This information had previously not been reported for three days due to what ACT Health described as a “technical glitch”.

Everyone who returned a positive PCR test has been notified of their result.

A total of 137,664 (83,591 PCR and 54,073 RAT) COVID-19 cases have been recorded since the pandemic began in March 2020.

There are now 89 people hospitalised with the virus. No one is in the ICU or requires ventilation.

Yesterday, there were 92 people in hospital with the virus and one person in the ICU. Nobody required ventilation.

The double-dose vaccination rate for the ACT’s five-plus population remains 97.3 per cent and 76.8 per cent of residents aged 16 and older have received a booster.

Of ACT residents aged five to 11, 68.4 per cent have received two doses of vaccine.

Interstate, NSW has reported 10 deaths overnight and 7825 new cases of COVID-19.

There are now 1283 people in hospital with the virus and 38 people in ICUs around the state.

Victoria has reported 25 deaths overnight and 9519 cases of COVID-19.

There are now 522 people hospitalised with the virus, while 29 patients are in the state’s intensive care units.