THE almost 5000 Canberra residents who are quarantining after being in greater Brisbane on or after January 2 will be able to finish their quarantine period early. 

ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman made the announcement this afternoon (January 11) after declassifying greater Brisbane as a COVID-19 affected area as of 2pm.

“This change now means that both ACT residents and non-residents who have been in Greater Brisbane on or after January 2 will no longer be required to quarantine in the ACT,” she said.

“While those people affected are not required to undertake a COVID-19 test upon leaving quarantine, they are reminded to continue to monitor for symptoms and get tested if they start to experience even the mildest of symptoms.”

Dr Coleman said she made this decision after carefully considering the broader risk to the ACT community and also following her discussion with QLD chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young.

“The updated Public Health Direction for Greater Brisbane was put in place on Friday, January 8 to support Queensland by providing time to assess the situation associated with the first instance of community transmission in Australia and slow the spread of the highly transmissible UK strain of COVID-19,” she said.

“The early signs are positive however we will not know if the variant has spread further until at least a full 14 days after the last day the infectious case was in the community.

“We ask that those coming out of quarantine or who have been in Brisbane during this time check the QLDHealth website daily. If you are identified as a close contact by QLD Health or you have been to any one of the contact tracing locations you need to follow Queensland Health’s advice immediately and contact ACT Health on 6207 7244.  This is essential to minimise the risk of seeding of the virus to the ACT.

“Those who are currently in quarantine will be informed of this change via SMS.”

Restrictions for impacted areas of greater Brisbane will also be eased from 6pm.

As for travelling around NSW, ACT Health is still urging Canberrans not to travel to greater Sydney, Central Coast or Wollongong.

Non-ACT residents who have been to COVID-19 affected areas in NSW are legally not permitted to enter the ACT without a valid exemption.