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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Jasper Lindell

ACT marks COVID-19 case drop as hospitalisations rise slightly

The ACT has posted a decline in the number of daily COVID-19 cases it reported on Sunday, as the territory inches towards 100,000 total infections since the start of the pandemic.

There were 725 new COVID-19 infections reported in the ACT on Sunday, which included 376 positive PCR test notifications and 349 positive rapid antigen test results.

No deaths were reported on Sunday.

There were 58 people in hospital and three people in intensive care at 8pm on Saturday, however no one was receiving ventilation support.

There were 55 people in hospital in the previous reporting period, after a peak of 64 earlier in the week.

There have been 99,471 cases of COVID-19 reported in the ACT since March 12, 2020.

About 40 per cent of future COVID-19 cases in the ACT will go unconfirmed by tests for the virus, health authorities have said, before the territory embarks on the most relaxed isolation requirements since the pandemic began.

Short-term modelling on case numbers predicated stable cases over the coming weeks that were generally inline with current daily case counts, a spokesman for ACT Health said.

"ACT Health does not model the historic number of unreported cases, which international and interstate experience shows are generally mild or asymptomatic cases," the spokesman said.

"Instead, ACT Health has used modelling to predict future short-term projections of daily cases numbers, hospital and ICU admissions."

A woman in her 80s died with COVID-19 in Canberra, ACT Health said on Saturday, confirming the 50th death of a person with COVID-19 in the ACT since the start of the pandemic.

The ACT's latest epidemiological report has revealed that most people who died with the virus in the territory had not received three vaccinations.

The ACT reported 975 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday. Of those, 550 were detected via a PCR test and 425 were detected via a rapid antigen test.

Changes to close contact rules

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith this week announced household contacts of COVID-19 cases in the ACT will no longer have to quarantine from mid-next week.

Household contacts in Victoria and NSW are now allowed to leave their homes after changes came into effect on Friday night.

But household contacts in the ACT will have to wait four days longer as the changes won't come into place in the territory until 11.59pm on Tuesday, April 26.

Around Australia

NSW reported the deaths of eight people with COVID-19 on Sunday, along with 11,107 new coronavirus infections.

There were 1588 people in hospital with the virus in the state, including 64 people in intensive care.

Victoria reported the deaths of two people with COVID-19 on Sunday and 7104 new coronavirus infections.

There were 438 people in hospital and 33 people in intensive care, where eight patients were being ventilated. There are 53,295 active cases in the state, health authorities said.

ACT Health expects COVID-19 daily cases to remain stable in coming weeks. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.

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