Page 2162 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 3 August 2021
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mirroring the restrictions in place in other jurisdictions, to support their public health responses and protect the ACT community from the risk of seeding.
I am pleased to report that there have been no positive cases detected in the ACT despite the increased risk of incursions, particularly from New South Wales. We have seen our testing rates increase in response to new cases and outbreaks across the country, and I want to thank the entire community for continuing to do the right thing to keep Canberra safe and strong. The COVID-19 situation in New South Wales is continuing to evolve, with a range of public health restrictions having been put in place across the state, including stay-at-home orders for the Greater Sydney region and some areas within regional New South Wales, in response to ongoing community transmission.
On 16 June 2021, a positive case was recorded in a worker transporting international flight crew. This case led to the identification of several exposure locations in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, and case numbers began to increase as more people were confirmed as close and casual contacts. As a result, the New South Wales government introduced stay-at-home orders for the local government areas of City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra from 4 pm on 23 June. The ACT mirrored these stay-at-home requirements, with ACT residents required to complete an online declaration and non-ACT residents required to seek an exemption before travel. On 25 June, following an assessment of the situation in Sydney, the ACT extended the existing stay-at-home requirements to cover all local government areas in metropolitan Sydney. The following day, the New South Wales government announced that the stay-at-home order would be expanded to cover all of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour for anyone who had been in these areas since 21 June 2021.
The ACT acknowledged the increased risk of the situation in New South Wales to the Canberra community and moved quickly to expand stay-at-home requirements for all travellers who had left the Greater Sydney region from 21 June 2021. In response to a rise in locally acquired cases in the Greater Sydney region, particularly as cases continued to be in the community while infectious, the ACT declared Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour as COVID-19 affected areas from 11.59 pm on 9 July. Anyone who left these COVID-19 affected areas on or after 11.59 pm on 9 July and travelled to the ACT was required to enter quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival to the ACT, rather than adhering to stay-at-home requirements.
These travel restrictions remain in place, with ACT and non-ACT residents seeking to travel from these COVID-19 affected areas required to apply for an exemption from ACT Health prior to their travel. Returning ACT residents are granted an exemption once there has been verification of identity and residency in the ACT, and confirmation of the location and suitability of a quarantine premises. However, we strongly advise Canberrans not to travel to Greater Sydney, Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions of New South Wales at this time.
On 13 July, ACT Health was informed of a positive COVID-19 case in an individual who worked on a construction site in Goulburn on 9 July and that a number of
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