Second death from coronavirus confirmed in Canberra

A man in his 80s with pre-existing health issues has died at The Canberra Hospital.

ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman offered condolences to the man's family and friends.

"My thoughts are with you in this very difficult time," she said.

"Every death is tragic and its not something any of us wishes we were here talking about today."

There was an additional two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the ACT over the past 24 hours, bringing the territory's total to 93.

One man and one woman aged between 40 and 53 were diagnosed with the virus. One of the new cases was linked to overseas travel and the other was a close contact of a previously confirmed case.

There were 13 people being treated for coronavirus in Canberra hospitals at mid-afternoon on Saturday.

Eighteen people had recovered from the virus and had been released from self-isolation. The remainder were isolating at home with ACT Health support.

There have been 5235 negative COVID-19 tests in the ACT to date.

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Dr Coleman said the sad reality of this disease was the elderly and the vulnerable were at an increased risk of complications.

"It is especially to protect these vulnerable groups that we all need to take the physical distancing measures we are implementing seriously," she said.

"Stay at home as much as possible and only go out when you need to. If you do leave the house for essential reasons, like shopping, exercising, for medical reasons or to work, please limit the amount of interaction you have with other people.

"Try to keep a 1.5m distance from people outside of your household group, wash your hands regularly - for 20-30 seconds each time, and cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze.

"These measures will give us the best chance to slow the spread of this disease and protect our most vulnerable."

ACT health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said she was pleased to see so many people doing great things in the community to support each other during this difficult time.

"We've seen, popping up across the city, mutual aid organisations, neighbourhood members getting together to support their neighbours and people they don't know in their community who might need a bit of help at this very difficult time," the minister said.

"I want to thank everyone who has been involved in setting up these organisations and everyone who is volunteering their time, passing a note to a neighbour to offer to do their shopping or anything else they might need."

"I also want to remind people if you are in need, I know lots of people have lost jobs and livelihoods in our community, we are not immune from COVID-19 and we're not immune from the economic impact of this either. The Canberra Relief Network is there to help anyone who needs support with food or advice."

Canberra Relief Network: 1800 43 11 33

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