The woman is the 50^th COVID death in Canberra since the pandemic started.

COVID-19 hospitalisations in the ACT have slightly decreased, with 55 virus patients in Canberra hospitals.

There are two in intensive care but none are under ventilation.

The ACT reported 975 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday. Of the cases, 550 were detected via a PCR test and 425 were detected via a rapid antigen test.

There have been 98,760 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The ACT's latest epidemiological report has revealed that most people who died with the virus in the territory had not received three vaccinations.

The report showed that 47 people in the ACT had died with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic to the week ending April 17.

Twenty-three people who died had received two doses of the vaccine, three had had one dose, while 16 of the people who died were unvaccinated.

The report also showed 36 per cent of COVID-19 hospitalisations were unvaccinated, 8 per cent had received one dose and 35 per cent had received two doses.

There were 140 people, or 20 per cent, admitted to hospital with COVID-19 who had received three doses of a vaccination. Most of this group of people were aged 65 and over.

This week Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith announced household contacts of COVID-19 cases in the ACT will no longer have to quarantine from mid-next week.

Household contacts in Victoria and NSW are now allowed to leave their homes after changes came into effect last night.

But household contacts in the ACT will have to wait four days longer as the changes won't come into place in the territory until 11.59pm on Tuesday April 26.

The ACT government also announced COVID-19 settings for schools in term 2 this week.

School students who are close contacts of COVID-19 cases will not be able to attend ACT public schools even if they are asymptomatic and test negative to the virus for at least the first two weeks of second term.

This is despite the territory winding back quarantine rules for household contacts from midnight Tuesday.

READ MORE:

Students will also be required to wear masks even though ACT Health will end its schools mask mandate.

ACT Health will drop its direction that secondary students and staff must wear masks at schools, but the Education Directorate has confirmed it will retain its policy of mandatory masks for at least the first two weeks of term.

Australia's most populous states have recorded more than 20,000 new COVID-19 cases and 29 virus-related deaths.

NSW posted 12,633 infections and 16 deaths on Saturday morning and Victoria reported 8120 cases and 13 deaths.

Seven-day isolation for close contacts ended in the two southern east coast states on Friday evening, while Queensland will soften quarantine and scrap it entirely for unvaccinated international arrivals next Thursday.

South Australia will drop the requirement for close contacts to isolate from April 30 but five rapid antigen tests over seven days will be required.

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT 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: