ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman will allow venues to more than double crowd numbers from 200 to 500 next Friday (November 13). 

“Events with 201 and 500 [patrons from November 13] will no longer require an official exemption to be granted as long as the public health directions are met, however, we will be asking event organisers to notify ACT Health of their event and submit their covid safe plan via the online form,” Dr Coleman says. 

While venues will be able to have up to 500 people, if their space allows for it, Dr Coleman reminds businesses that the current rules for smaller venues and density measures still apply. 

“So all venues with a total usable space of 100sq m or less can continue to have 25 people throughout the venue excluding staff and those hospitality venues with a usable space between 101 and 200sq m can continue having 50 people throughout the venue,” she says. 

Another change will let people eat and drink while standing in outdoor spaces, according to Chief Minister Andrew Barr. 

“This reflects evidence that outdoor spaces present a much lower risk of transmission of COVID-19 as compared with indoor spaces,” Mr Barr says.

The next public health checkpoint will be on November 27 and Dr Coleman says further easing of restrictions will be easier if more people take up the “Check in CBR” app.

“As we continue to adjust to a new COVID normal, electronic check-in systems will be important to ensure we can carry out contact tracing quickly and easily should there be new cases of COVID-19 in the ACT,” she says.

“For those businesses that are not using an electronic method of requesting patron contact details, the free and secure Check In CBR app is available for venues to fulfill this requirement, which also removes the burden on venues to hold these records. We strongly encourage all venues and events to come on board.

“We now have around 1700 venues registered and more than 32,600 downloads.” 

Two-hundred and nine people are currently in quarantine in the ACT and Canberra currently has no active covid cases.