Page 1586 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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Madam Speaker, the situations in Victoria and New South Wales have clearly increased anxiety in parts of the community. We know that many Canberrans are concerned about the potential for community transmission of the novel coronavirus to occur in the ACT. I want to reassure the community that the ACT is in a very good position to respond, should we see an increase of cases. Over recent weeks we have seen a surge in demand for COVID-19 testing, and we have responded by opening two additional testing clinics.
A new testing site is now available at the West Belconnen Child and Family Centre, on Monday to Friday from 9.30 am to 5 pm. A second new testing site is now also available at the COVID-19 surge centre located on Garran oval. This centre is operating as a walk-in testing clinic from 9.30 am to 5 pm seven days a week.
We are also looking to establish an additional drive-through facility in south Canberra, similar to the drive-through testing facility at EPIC, as soon as possible. While there has been a slight delay in getting this facility up and running, a site has now been identified and temporary facilities are being sourced for installation in the coming days.
These new testing sites complement the five existing services that have been doing an outstanding job for our community. In addition, as recommended by the Select Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic response, I have asked Canberra Health Services to explore options for a testing facility in Civic.
I am pleased that Canberrans are hearing the message about getting tested. This is important to help us to monitor the COVID-19 situation in the ACT.
Thanks to Canberrans’ response to the public health messages, the ACT is continuing our consistently strong testing figures, having recorded 44,000 tests as of 22 July. We recognise that this is creating a significant workload for ACT Pathology, as well as for the frontline nurses and clinicians that are undertaking the specimen collection. On behalf of all Canberrans, I want to thank our pathology staff for the incredible job they are doing. It has been a long and difficult year, and it is still only July. Canberra Health Services will continue to listen to staff and work with them to manage this additional workload, recognising that the response to this pandemic will be ongoing for some months, at the very least.
Madam Speaker, this testing contributes, along with the consideration of a range of other risk factors, to the evidence base used by the Chief Health Officer when considering the appropriate level of public health restrictions. Canberrans have done an outstanding job over recent months to stop the spread of the virus. This has allowed the ACT to begin easing restrictions over the past few months and for our community to move into the recovery phase.
However, as members would be aware, the planned move to stage 3 of Canberra’s recovery plan was postponed on 3 July, following confirmation of five new COVID-19 cases in the territory. With the uncertainty and risk of new cases, the Chief Health Officer advised the government that the further easing of restrictions should be
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