The ACT government will make changes to its test, trace, isolate and quarantine rules on Wednesday, with the territory having hit a second-dose vaccination rate of 90 per cent in the eligible population.
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Relaxed rules have already seen movement across Canberra dramatically increase, with the number of venue check-ins up by nearly 50 per cent this past weekend compared to the first weekend out of lockdown.
There were fewer than 920,000 check-ins using the Check-In CBR app across October 16 and 17, but there were 1.37 million check-ins the following weekend, after non-essential retail reopened.
No significant changes to restrictions are expected to be announced on Wednesday, as another tranche of rules were already set to be relaxed on Friday under the ACT's reopening plan.
Fully vaccinated Canberrans will also soon be able to add South Australia to their list of destinations, when the state lifts travel restrictions from November 23. Travel between Victoria and Greater Sydney will resume on Monday.
Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman has previously flagged the ACT could move to shorten the quarantine period for contacts of COVID-19 cases, a move other states, including Victoria, have already made.
"I know that in other jurisdictions they are considering different approaches, particularly, to these quarantine timeframes. And this is something that we are all watching and waiting to see the outcomes of when we are comfortable in our settings. We will continue to make those changes moving forward," Dr Coleman said a fortnight ago.
The update will follow three days of low COVID-19 case numbers in the ACT. There were 12 cases reported on Tuesday, after nine cases were reported on both Sunday and Monday.
There were 15 people in Canberra's hospitals with the virus at 8pm on Monday, including nine people in intensive care and five people receiving ventilation support.
The proportion of ACT residents aged 12 and over who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 reached 89.3 per cent on Tuesday, the highest rate of vaccination of any Australian state or territory. The rate rose 1.3 percentage points from Monday. It was at 90.5 per cent on Wednesday.
Pop-up Pfizer vaccination clinics in areas across Canberra will this week be targeted at populations with lower-than-average vaccination rates in Canberra.
Data released on Monday by the federal Health Department revealed Canberra's inner north had the highest number of unvaccinated people. The North Canberra zone, which covers the inner-city suburbs from Watson to Campbell, has a first dose vaccination rate of 86 per cent in the population aged 15 and up
Meanwhile, significantly reduced rates of COVID-19 testing have prompted concerns health authorities have not detected all the cases of the virus in the community.
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Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has encouraged Canberrans to continue coming forward for testing, even with mild symptoms.
"In order to get treatment early, people will need to come forward when they have mild symptoms, and at the moment coming forward and getting tested is really straightforward and simple," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Health authorities have already changed contact tracing processes, in an acknowledgement COVID-19 would continue to circulate in the ACT.
Dr Coleman has said the changes will focus contact tracers' attention on high-risk or wide-scale transmission, rather than looking for the source of every infection in the ACT.
Venues visited for a short period by a COVID-positive person are now mostly considered low-risk and not listed as exposure sites. The changes to exposure site identification mean fewer asymptomatic people need to come forward for testing or need to quarantine.
The ACT's pathway forward from lockdown, released last week, said face masks would not be required outdoors from October 29, and would allow 10 visitors to the home and outdoor gatherings of 30 people.
The changes will also allow cinemas, theatres, performance venues, galleries, museums and outdoor attractions to reopen with density restrictions.
School students who are yet to return to school can go back to the classroom from Monday, the document said.
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