Coronavirus: Seven new cases in Canberra, total hits 39

The new cases include two men and five women, aged between 21 and 75.

ACT Health says all new cases are linked to recent overseas travel.

One of the 39 confirmed cases, although not a new case, travelled on the 31 bus from Dickson Interchange to Kaleen, departing Dickson about 3.50pm on Tuesday, March 17.

This bus was scheduled to leave Dickson interchange at 3.33pm but was running late and departed at 3.50pm.

All passengers should self-quarantine until March 31 and should contact the communicable disease control section of ACT Health on 5124 9213 for more information.

There have been 2780 negative COVID-19 tests in the ACT to date. There are currently three COVID-19 patients in Canberra hospitals.

None of the patients in hospital due to coronavirus are in the intensive care unit and are all in a stable condition.

There is so far no evidence of community transmission of coronavirus in the ACT.

Of the seven new cases in the ACT, some of the cases came from cruise ships.

It is not known how many came from the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which has seen more than 100 passengers test positive for the virus, including some in the ACT.

Health authorities said a Canberra case of coronavirus was linked to another cruise ship, but did not say which cruise ship.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said she was confident ACT was testing for the virus at some of the highest rates in the world.

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"We are fairly confident, we are confident that our testing regime is doing what we can to pick up cases of COVID 19 in the ACT," she said.

The testing guidelines have recently been relaxed to allow people who have visited areas interstate with known outbreaks to be tested.

The Health Minister said testing guidelines could be relaxed further should community transmission become evident in the ACT.

Canberra Health Services CEO Bernadette McDonald recently said ACT had access to 69 ventilators.

But Ms Stephen-Smith on Tuesday refused to disclose how many ventilators the ACT now had, claiming Canberrans did not need to know the figure.

Victorian authorities this week revealed they had placed an urgent order for about 2000 ventilators.

The ACT government will delay the roll out of the Network 19 update that was due to be implemented at the start of Term 2, and is banning the use of cash on public transport.

Bus customers will have to enter the bus by the back doors, unless low floor access is required.

The front seats will also be closed off to ensure a safe distance between the driver and passengers.

Journeys made on public transport were down 21.9 per cent last week compared to the same period last year.

Contingencies are being prepared should there be a need to reduce bus or light rail services.

"If you don't need to use public transport then you shouldn't," Transport Minister Chris Steel said.

"At this stage we're maintaining a regular bus and light rail timetable, but some services may be missed due to driver shortages.

"The government focus is to maintain essential services as far as possible."

More to come

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