A cluster of COVID-19 cases at Wanniassa School junior campus has grown to 26 as three more school sites have been affected by COVID-19 exposures in the first week of returning to full capacity.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
St Anthony's Parish Primary School in Wanniassa, Gordon Primary School and Wanniassa School senior campus have all had a positive case of COVID-19 attend campuses in recent days.
Meanwhile, a cluster of cases at Wanniassa School junior campus stands at 26 cases as of 8pm on Wednesday. The campus will remain closed for the rest of the week, and a pop-up testing site is open in the school hall on Thursday.
One case attended Gordon Primary School and after school hours care on Monday, November 1. Those who entered the year 3 and year 4 main building from 9am to 3pm and the after school hours care building were told to stay home until given further advice.
The school is open on Thursday for anyone who doesn't need to quarantine but the the after school care run by Communities@Work is closed. All the close contacts have been identified and notified.
At St Anthony's Parish Primary School all close contacts have been identified and notified. The positive case attended the school on Monday, November 1, from 9am to 3pm and Tuesday, November 2, from 9am to 1.15pm. The school was cleaned overnight and open on Thursday for people who aren't affected.
COVID-19 cases were unknowingly infectious at the Wanniassa School senior campus on Monday, November 1. The campus remained open Thursday for students and staff not deemed close contacts.
The Southern Canberra Gymnastics Centre in Wanniassa has been listed as a close contact exposure site on Saturday from 10.30am to 12pm.
READ MORE:
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said there was concern that the virus could continue to spread in Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and further afield.
"I think that is clearly a concern," she said.
"Most of the cases that have been identified so far in relation to Wanniassa junior school campus are transmission that appears to have happened on the school campus. There are very few household contacts yet identified, or very few household contact cases who are yet identified.
"But we certainly expect, [as] we've seen in other clusters that there will be further household transmission, and I guess that's what we kind of wait to see now, is how much of that transmission has already occurred that may have then on-transmitted."
She urged people who felt unwell to stay home from work, keep their children home from school and get tested.
Queanbeyan Public School is also closed on Thursday for contact tracing. Queanbeyan West and Queanbeyan South Public Schools were affected by COVID-19 cases last week.
A COVID-19 case also attended Ainslie School on Monday, October 25, and Tuesday, October 26, but the chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said on Wednesday the virus hasn't appeared to have spread at that school.
Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram