MORE than 200 cases of covid have been linked to an outbreak at the ANU following the university’s orientation week as the ACT passed more than 45,000 total cases of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

The cases at the ANU were confirmed on Sunday (February 20), with all residents of campus halls ordered to complete a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) yesterday morning.

The ANU has confirmed students across the halls will test themselves with RATs every 48 hours. Those who test positive will stay in a dedicated self-isolation facility on the campus for eight days.

In the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday the territory recorded 583 new cases of the virus, (274 PCR and 309 RAT).

There are now 2786 active cases in the ACT, and there have been 45,662 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

There are 41 people currently hospitalised with covid, one of whom is intensive care. There is currently nobody in the ACT on a ventilator.

On the vaccination front, 65.3 per cent of ACT residents aged 16 and over have received a booster dose and 77.6 per cent of children aged five to 11 have received one dose.

Today marks one year since nurse Maddy Williams became the first ACT resident to receive a covid vaccination.