Page 2570 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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The government had been closely observing the deteriorating situation in New South Wales and had been actively preparing for the likelihood of cases in the ACT. Our public health teams had been busily refining outbreak response plans and plans to respond to cases in vulnerable settings.
I am very proud of the response effort to date. It has been a huge, collaborative effort and has involved the assistance of a significant number of surge staff to assist across many facets of the response, from retired nursing staff who heeded the call to re-join the workforce to assist with testing and other support, to a significant surge in contact tracing and assistance provided by Tasmania and Western Australia. We have a multi-agency response in place which incorporates multiple government directorates.
As of 15 September, there were a total of 541 cases linked to the current ACT outbreak. There are 243 cases currently active, seven of which are in hospital and one case in intensive care and requiring ventilation. A total of 298 cases associated with the current outbreak have recovered. Our thoughts are with those who are unwell with the virus at this time and we wish them a speedy recovery, especially those patients currently in hospital who are receiving the best of care thanks to our hospital staff.
The ACT’s outbreak response has extended to supporting residents in two social housing complexes, following the identification of positive cases of COVID-19. A multi-agency response has been providing significant support to quarantined residents through the delivery of food and other essential items, mental health support and on-site COVID-19 testing and vaccination. ACT Health has worked with Housing ACT, ACT Policing, Canberra Health Services, the Community Services Directorate, the Emergency Services Agency and non-government organisations to communicate with residents at these locations and address their specific needs.
I particularly thank our non-government partners in this response, including the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA), ACT Shelter, Directions Health Services, the Health Care Consumers Association, Community Services #1, Community Options, Argyle Housing, CatholicCare and other health, housing and homelessness sector organisations. While we recognise that there have been some rocky moments along the way, we have remained committed throughout to working closely with the organisations that are trusted by tenants in order to provide the best possible response to this challenging situation.
Condamine Court housing in Turner was first identified as a COVID-19 close contact exposure location over the weekend of 21-22 August, which meant that everyone on site went into quarantine. Three cases have been linked to this exposure location. Happily, on 6 September all residents of Condamine Court were released from quarantine and the multi-agency response was concluded and stepped down. I reiterate my thanks to Condamine Court residents for working with our teams to sustain their quarantine in difficult circumstances.
Ainslie Village was identified as an exposure location following the identification of a positive case on 29 August. As of 13 September, there are nine cases linked to Ainslie Village. All cases and some close contacts are being quarantined off-site to protect the
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