Seventeen cases of COVID-19 have been linked to an outbreak at Wanniassa School's junior campus.
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Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said early investigations show 15 of the cases were on the school site and two cases were household contacts.
There are more than 120 close contacts associated with the outbreak and all people who were present at the junior campus or after school care since Monday, October 25 have been directed to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate until they receive a result.
"We'll be working through the results [as] those tests come through and that will help us to understand the extent [of] transmission in the campus because at this point we don't really know," Dr Coleman said.
Dr Coleman said the vast majority of cases were linked to one year level but health authorities were unsure how one of the cases in the cluster was linked to that cohort.
She said the majority of infected children were symptomatic and were linked to the COVID care at home program to treat them outside of hospital.
The news comes as the ACT recorded 15 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday.
Wanniassa School junior campus was closed on Monday but reopened on Tuesday.
Education Minister Yvette Berry confirmed it was closed again on Wednesday after further cases were discovered.
"During one day, short shutdowns will be focusing on all of the health and wellbeing of students rather than the classes. Students will not be marked absent today [Wednesday]," Ms Berry said.
"If students need to quarantine for a fortnight the school will be working very closely with them in their families to ensure that they have some online learning plans and that work is now being prepared."
Ms Berry said all of the teachers at Wanniassa School had complied with the school vaccination mandate.
It is uncertain whether the school will reopen on Thursday.
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Dr Coleman said she was not aware of any further cases associated with the positive case at Ainslie School. That person attended the campus on Monday, October 25 and the morning of Tuesday, October 26.
The chief health officer said outbreaks in schools were expected as students returned to face-to-face learning.
"We want our kids to enjoy life out in [the] community. That's [a] really important part of their development and their learning. But ... can I just remind everyone to closely monitor for symptoms, really, really closely monitor for symptoms in children before sending them to school," she said.
"We're not going to be able to keep COVID-free schools but we will keep COVID safe, and keep schools as open as much as we possibly can."
Ms Berry said it was still safe to send children to school despite the emerging cluster.
"This is the world we're going to be in for a little bit longer, but the risk and the measures we've put in place, I think that it's safer to have children at school rather than keeping them at home away from their friends and their peers and teachers, and learning in a school environment."
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