Canberra's lockdown has been extended for two more weeks, as the ACT registered more Covid cases.
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Canberra recorded 13 new cases of the virus in the 24 hours to 8pm Monday.
The lockdown will go until at least September 17, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
"Although our lockdown measures have been effective in managing the outbreak, the number of cases being notified every day, including where we are unable to identify the source of transmission, means there continues to be an important risk of Covid spreading in the community," he said.
"This is the highly infectious Delta variant, and we need to reduce movement of people at this time."
Schools will not return this term. Plans for term four will be developed in coming days.
People who work mostly outdoors such as landscapers and gardeners will be able to return to work under Covid safe conditions.
Canberra's construction sector will be able to recommence from Friday under strict Covid requirements and will be enforced by police and WorkSafe. Residential construction sites in Canberra could be allowed to reopen by the end of next week
New public health orders will also allow Canberrans to exercise for two hours outdoors, an increase from the one hour already allowed.
Under the new rules, one household of any size, or up to five people, can gather outdoors for exercise or recreation.
Outdoor playgrounds will also reopen.
National parks will not reopen under the new health orders, but Mr Barr said they would open to the public again in due course.
Of the 13 new cases, seven were linked while investigations are ongoing for the remaining six.
Eight of the new cases were infectious in the community at some point during their infectious period, and four were in quarantine the whole time. The infectious status for the remaining case is still under investigation.
Canberra's lockdown had been set to end on September 2, but days of high case numbers and several cases being infectious in the community led to the restrictions being extended.
The lockdown was initially set to last for seven days when it was announced on August 12, but was extended to a three-week lockdown shortly after.
Mr Barr said the lockdown extension was necessary to help keep the Canberra community safe, and that easing restrictions too soon would risk the further spread of Covid in the capital.
The territory government is looking at opening up more retail for click and collect or delivery only options, with further details to be announced later this week.
Business support grants from the federal government will be increased to $20,000 for employing businesses and $7500 for non-employing businesses, with more than 3200 businesses having already applied for the scheme.
Community sport will not be allowed to go ahead, and Mr Barr said it would be challenging for winter sport competitions to be completed this year. The remainder of Canberra's 2021 junior rugby league competitions were cancelled earlier in the day.
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Mr Barr also said there were 13 cases in hospital with Covid, three of those being in intensive care and one is on a ventilator.
None of the cases in hospital are children.
There have been 274 cases of Covid in Canberra since the start of the outbreak three weeks ago. Thirty two cases have recovered, leaving 242 active cases.
The extension of the lockdown comes following crisis cabinet meetings on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday.
ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said of the 274 total cases since the start of the outbreak, 245 were linked, while the remaining 29 remain under investigation as to how they acquired the virus.
There are now three cases linked with the Ainslie Village social housing complex.
While two cases are in isolation, health officials have not been able to get in contact with the third case since their test returned positive.
There have been no new cases associated with the outbreak at Condamine Court.
Dr Coleman said the end of the lockdown would be more challenging than the beginning of the lockdown.
"The lockdown has been very effective, and this is because ... Canberrans have been, and continue to do the right thing," she said.
"We know [the lockdown] is working because our numbers show us that, and that's why we need to keep doing it for a bit longer."
However, the rate of infection of the virus in the ACT is below one.
Dr Coleman said the settings were right for the lockdown to reduce the number of cases in the community, but more time was needed to drop those numbers further.
"We need to chase down those chains of transmission," she said.
"We hope to get to a point where case numbers are low and keep them there."
There are now 66 per cent of Canberrans over 16 who have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine.
The mass vaccination centre at AIS Arena is set to open later this week, which will be able to distribute 24,000 doses each week.
The AIS Arena will replace the Garran Surge Centre as a mass vaccination hub, with the surge centre likely to revert back to a testing clinic.
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