Page 1192 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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community safe. Almost 19,000 tests had been undertaken across the territory as of yesterday.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind the community that it is important for anyone with COVID-19 symptoms to get tested. Testing provides our public health professionals with a good view of the ACT situation and is one of the key parameters in guiding decisions around the easing of public health measures.
We continue to make good progress in suppressing the virus in the ACT and keeping our active cases at zero. But we must remember our responsibilities, particularly as restrictions are gradually eased.
We know Canberrans have been eager to leave their homes, and it is understandable that people want to get out and about. However, we must remember that it takes only one person with COVID-19 to come into contact with others to start a chain of transmission that could lead to a new cluster of cases. We do not want to go backwards, so it is important not to become complacent or careless. It is important that we continue to follow health advice.
Canberra is in the strong position it is because we acted early, we listened to expert advice, and we put in place evidence-based public health measures. It is for these reasons that we have effectively suppressed the spread of the virus.
As I said a fortnight ago in this place, this pandemic is not over. There are still active cases of the virus across Australia and we have seen small outbreaks occurring. Until there is a vaccine, a higher level of risk management will be necessary. As the Chief Minister and the national cabinet have recognised, we cannot completely eliminate risk, but we have put in place measures to manage this risk. One of those is the gradual easing of restrictions, with clear checkpoints to assess the public health risk of moving to the next stage.
Madam Speaker, the Chief Minister released Canberra’s recovery plan: COVID-19 easing of restrictions roadmap on Tuesday, 26 May 2020, detailing how we will emerge from this pandemic while managing the risks to the community. The road map outlines the ACT’s approach to easing restrictions in three stages. The approach is consistent with the 3-Step Framework for a COVIDSafe Australia agreed by national cabinet, and is based on public health advice from experts locally and nationally.
The ACT government is ensuring that we constantly monitor our progress through the stages of our plan to support early identification and investigation of any increase in COVID-19 risk to Canberrans.
The relaxing of restrictions is in line with the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee’s recommendations, and the ACT is in the middle of the pack when it comes to the timing and extent of easing. We have not moved as far or as fast as some of those jurisdictions with closed borders, particularly the Northern Territory and Western Australia. But we have moved more quickly than Tasmania, where stage 2 easing has just this week been brought forward from 15 June to 5 June. The timing of our move into stage 2 was two days ahead of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland
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