COVID case numbers are unlikely to increase much higher during the current wave, the ACT's chief health officer has said.
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Dr Kerryn Coleman said the territory was experiencing a "grumbling peak" after infections grew to the highest level in more than four months last week.
She said it was harder to determine or predict COVID cases as authorities no longer receive the same level of data.
But Dr Coleman said she was "very confident" case numbers would not grow to the levels experienced in previous waves given the variants in circulation and the vaccine coverage.
"I don't think it's going to go much higher in terms of increasing daily numbers, but we also know that when holiday periods come along and there's a lot more mingling and a lot more social activities, we do see an increase in transmission and therefore that flows on to some increased cases," she said.
"It will not get to the peak that we have seen in other waves."
Dr Coleman said authorities were watching the situation in China closely as cases have surged after restrictions were relaxed and the country's zero-COVID policy was abandoned.
A new Omicron sub-variant, BF.7, has been spreading throughout the country, which, until now, had avoided large scale outbreaks.
"What it means for us is that people travelling to and from China may well be at a greater risk of having it ... but that's no different from any other travellers who have arrived from overseas," Dr Coleman said.
It will not get to the peak that we have seen in other waves.
- Dr Kerryn Coleman
The ACT government has extended the use of its COVID-19 management powers for another three months, which allows the chief health officer and minister to make COVID restrictions.
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As part of that, Dr Coleman has kept in place a mandate for masks in high risk settings, saying it was still needed during the Christmas period.
"At some point we'll take face masks off from a mandated perspective in high risk settings, we've decided now is not the time for that and we will continue that though the holiday period at this point in time," she said.
The government will also reassess the delivery of PCR testing. Free tests will still be provided for people at the Garran Surge Centre until the end of February.
But Dr Coleman has said PCR tests should be used by those at the highest risk of COVID to ensure fast access to antiviral treatments.
The chief health officer also said the pandemic was about "75 per cent of the way" before it could be declared an endemic.
She said more understanding was needed about the virus and ongoing vaccine strategies.
"I think we're probably about 75 per cent of the way there, we're not quite understanding enough about COVID, what our ongoing vaccination strategies need to be and therefore what our ongoing program looks like for us to call is totally endemic and to be really comfortable," Dr Coleman said.
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