Page 1577 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 June 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
But with the situation continuing to evolve and the risk still high, we need to be able to respond by implementing and enforcing public health directions to continue to protect the community. As members will be aware, the Chief Health Officer regularly provides the government with advice on the status of the COVID-19 emergency and the ACT’s public health situation. The Chief Health Officer provided her latest report to me on 11 May 2021, updating me on the ACT’s public health emergency declaration, and I will now table the Chief Health Officer’s report.
The report outlined the Chief Health Officer’s recommendations to extend the public health emergency declaration for a further 90 days to enable the ACT to continue to respond to the risk associated with COVID-19 through public health directions. The ACT’s public health directions reduce threats to public health, including the critical requirement that confirmed cases of COVID-19 and their close contacts self-isolate, and the public health direction for returned international travellers to undertake 14 days of mandatory quarantine upon their arrival.
Based on the Chief Health Officer’s advice outlining the level of risk we currently face, I extended the public health emergency declaration for a further 90 days, effective from 18 May until 16 August 2021. The Chief Health Officer will continue to formally report to me every 30 days about the status of the emergency.
Given the global situation, I expect the requirement for mandatory quarantine for returning international travellers to remain for some time to come. However, the national cabinet is exploring alternative options for quarantine into the future. Our approach will continue to be guided by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice and careful assessment of the risk to our community.
The ACT’s extension of the emergency declaration is consistent with that of all other Australian jurisdictions. The Australian government extended the Australian biosecurity declaration for a further three months until 17 September 2021 and each state and territory continues to maintain similar emergency status to uphold critical public health control measures. Fortunately, given Australia’s successful suppression to date, we can continue with baseline capacity and density restrictions at this stage of our recovery, knowing we have strong outbreak response plans to respond to and contain any new outbreaks.
AHPPC advises that we will likely see further COVID-19 outbreaks, as we are currently seeing in Melbourne, and we expect to continue to see instances of community transmission linked to hotel quarantine. We have also seen new community cases that appear not to be directly linked to international travellers in quarantine, demonstrating the ongoing risk of community transmission and the continuing challenge in our suppression efforts.
Our COVID-19 vaccination program is critical to providing protection against the virus and, once again, I encourage Canberrans to please book an appointment for their COVID-19 vaccination when they are eligible. These recent developments show that COVID-19 is still with us. If you are travelling anywhere in Australia, please remember that things can change quickly. Regularly check the public health advice of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video