Reported COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations in the ACT have dropped in the week ending on Thursday.
This is consistent with a national downward trend.
There were 806 new recorded cases in the last week, 290 from PCR tests and 516 from RATs.
Daily case numbers
- Friday, January 13: 137
- Saturday, January 14: 112
- Sunday, January 15: 81
- Monday, January 16: 112
- Tuesday, January 17: 99
- Wednesday, January 18: 142
- Thursday, January 19: 123
- Total: 806
This is more than 200 cases fewer than last week, and the lowest weekly cases reported in the territory since the week ending October 28.
There were 32 people with the virus in hospital, including one in the intensive care unit.
This is the fewest hospitalisations since the ACT started reporting COVID-19 cases weekly in September last year.
There were no deaths in the last week, and six in the week prior.
Cases by region
Belconnen and Tuggeranong had the most number of new cases in the fortnight ending on January 15.
ACT Health also publishes a weekly epidemiological COVID-19 update, but the week does not align with the case numbers published on Fridays.
In the first two weeks of 2023, there were 477 COVID cases reported in Belconnen and 428 in Tuggeranong.
Across Australia
Australian COVID-19 cases are on a downward trend, with average daily infections dropping for a third consecutive week.
The federal health department on Friday reported a 34.2 per cent decline in national cases, after similar drops in the first two weeks of January.
COVID-19 hospitalisations and intensive care admissions were also down in the week to January 17, with the latest data showing respective drops of 18.8 per cent and 20.6 per cent.
The downward trend is being experienced in every state and territory, with South Australia's seeing the largest drop-off at 43.4 per cent.
NSW Health says the BR.2 variant is still the most common variant in the state, while the XBF strain accounts for 35 per cent of new Victorian infections.
IN OTHER NEWS:
The variant running rampant in the United States - dubbed XBB.1.5 - is almost non-existent in Victoria, despite earlier suggestions there were several cases.
Two cases of the XBB.1.5 strain have been detected in Victoria through genomic surveillance testing.
- with AAP
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