THE ACT has recorded 19 new covid cases in the past 24 hours, with a majority of them continuing to be infectious in the community. 

Twelve are linked to already-known cases or exposure sites, while the rest remain under investigation.

At today’s (September 24) covid press conference, ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said two of the new cases are linked to the Calvary retirement community.

The two cases are aged care workers and Dr Coleman confirmed that both staff members are fully vaccinated and both were wearing full PPE when appropriate while at the facility.

“I understand this may be distressing news for the families and residents at the facility,” she said.

“We are working very close with Calvary who are communicating directly with residents and their families regarding the outbreak.”

Dr Coleman said ACT Health has been notified of several other cases that are not included in today’s case number.

“These are currently under investigation and I will be able to talk more about those exact numbers tomorrow,” she said.

There are currently 12 people in hospital with covid, three are in intensive care, with two of them, NSW residents, are requiring ventilation.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said testing clinics yesterday (September 23) saw a solid number of people come forward, with 3455 covid tests conducted.

“Thank you to everyone who came forward,” he said.

On the vaccination front, he said 83.5 per cent of the eligible Canberra population has received one dose of the vaccination, with about 57.5 per cent of the population having had received two doses.

“The national data shows that when compared with other states and territories, the ACT is one of the national leaders,” he said.

“Canberrans are getting vaccinated in large numbers. This will put us in a better position in the weeks and months ahead.”

A total of 476 cases have recovered during the ACT’s latest outbreak, with 13 in the past 24 hours. This means there are now 217active cases associated with this outbreak.