Victoria has followed NSW in releasing a roadmap for loosening COVID restrictions.
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But ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he was not in a position to provide certainty and fine details on what restriction settings would be when vaccination thresholds were crossed.
Here's what we do know after Monday's COVID update.
When will ACT start to reopen?
The reopening plan hinges on the ACT and national average vaccination rates hitting certain levels before gradually reopening businesses and schools.
Mr Barr said the national vaccination rate was likely to reach 70 per cent by mid to late October and 80 per cent in early to mid November.
However, he emphasised that there were significant risks associated with opening up at 70 per cent vaccination as indicated by the Doherty Institute.
"The clear advice is that it is prudent to wait until reaching 80 per cent before making major changes," Mr Barr said.
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Mr Barr said restrictions needed to remain in place while COVID-19 continued to circulate in the community and while the ACT worked to increase vaccination coverage.
"Our priority over the coming six weeks is to look to get as many people safely back to work as soon as we can.
"We are also aware the impacts of mental health of ongoing public health restrictions and we will be supporting a range of mental health initiatives and we will be prioritising more outdoor activity in the weeks ahead."
He said the ACT would move through the phases of the national plan gradually based on the most up-to-date health advice.
What will reopening look like?
Mr Barr said the ACT would step through a very gradual reopening through mid to late October and mid to late November when the nation hits the 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccine milestones.
Gathering sizes will be increased when it is deemed safe. Events and activities held outside will come back sooner than activities held indoors, but very large gatherings and events will be restricted for longer.
Density restrictions will apply to businesses, venues and facilities. It is likely that restrictions of one person per four square metres will be in place, followed by one per two square metres, during the transition back to normality. The number of customers allowed in businesses will be capped.
Some businesses deemed higher risk will remain closed for longer. During the transition phases people will be encouraged to work from home as much as possible.
Mr Barr said businesses would be aware of changes before they were brought in.
"Further details of the transition will be advised in advance of each phase through October and November," he said.
"Right now, we need to give more than 80,000 Canberrans the opportunity to get vaccinated over the next four weeks as we continue our efforts to suppress our current outbreak."
When are schools going back?
The ACT government has not revealed anything further than what was announced last week: that year 12 would be allowed back to school from week 1 term 4, followed by year 11 in week 3.
Mr Barr was pressed by reporters on why the NSW and Victorian governments already have plans in place to bring back younger cohorts and the ACT does not.
He said the ACT vaccination plan was focusing on vaccinating teachers and parents first.
"We've also had the experience in our outbreak already of a number of schools where transmission has occurred and where what's happened is that kids have got infected from each other and then taken it home to parents and at one point we had 20,000 people in quarantine.
"I appreciate that people want kids back at school as soon if it is safe to do so. But our undertaking and commitment all Canberra parents and to all Canberra school kids is that we will work hard to ensure that you have the safest possible education environment before we begin the gradual return of kids to school."
What will the Defence Force be doing?
From Thursday or Friday, Australian Defence Force personnel will be stationed at the border of the ACT to help ACT Policing with travel compliance checks.
This is the first time ADF members have be called up for this task, but they have has been involved in the hotel quarantine system.
The ADF members will be marshalling cars that have been stopped by ACT police for compliance checks.
They will triage drivers by asking for a valid exemption or evidence that they live in one of the 10 postcodes within the region that are allowed to come to the ACT.
Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said the ADF would also be having general conversations with the public on the health directions and how to interpret the rule.
He said freight drivers needed to have proof of a negative COVID-19 test, an issue which has caused many vehicles to be turned back at the border.
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