There's been another death of a person with COVID.
"Sadly, ACT Health has been notified of the death of a woman in her 60s with COVID-19. ACT Health extends its sincere condolences to her family and friends at this difficult time," a statement said.
ACT Health also reported there had been 464 new cases reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday night. Of those, 170 were detected by rapid tests and 294 by PCR. That drops the seven-day rolling average from 558 to 532.
There were 135 people in hospital - down from 138 - and of those four are in intensive care and three of them are being ventilated. That compares with three and two respectively the day before.
There's been a spate of deaths recently, all of them people in their 60s and older except for one person in his 30s.
Two days ago, the health authorities announced that four people had died. "ACT Health has been notified of four deaths - a man in his 30s, a woman in her 90s, and two men in their 90s, with COVID-19," a statement then said.
The number of new cases each day has been falling since the beginning of August, staying around the 450 to 500 mark. A week ago, there were 889 new cases.
There were 3032 known active cases, taking the total during the pandemic to 197,094. Of the active cases, 135 were in hospital, four in intensive care and three on ventilators.
The total number of lives lost since March, 2020 is 108.
The age distribution of cases was:
- 0-4: 36
- 5-11: 56
- 12-17: 29
- 18-24: 53
- 25-39: 174
- 40-49: 85
- 50-64: 60
- 65+: 63
- Total: 556
State of emergency extended
On Monday, the state of emergency was extended in the ACT. The government renewed the Public Health Emergency Declaration until September 30 "to allow the chief health officer to continue to take all necessary actions to reduce the threats to public health from COVID-19".
The authorities said this was because of the uncertainty of the "current epidemiological situation".
"While there is some positive news that new cases are now averaging less than 1000 per day, this level of community transmission still poses a risk to community members, particularly those who are more at risk of severe outcomes, including older Canberrans and people with underlying health conditions," Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.
"I'd like to thank Canberra businesses, workers and the community for their ongoing support over the winter months as the health care system dealt with COVID, influenza and other respiratory illnesses in the community."
She said that the situation should ease when winter is over.
"It is still important for Canberrans to continue practising COVID-smart behaviours to help minimise the impact of COVID-19 in the community.
"This includes getting tested and staying home when you are sick, being up to date with your vaccinations, wearing a mask indoors where you can't physically distance, and maintaining good hand hygiene."
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.
