Canberra lockdown explainer: What a record number of new cases means for the ACT

The ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman has urged Canberrans not to be panicked by the distinct rise in cases, stating the territory was heading in the right direction.

Another 30 cases emerged on Tuesday. The total active caseload is now 167.

The source of five of the new cases is under investigation, but for the ones that have an identified link, 21 are household contacts. Four are linked to existing exposure sites.

Thirteen cases were in quarantine for their entire infectious period, 11 cases were infectious in the community and the status of six cases are under investigation.

Four people are in hospital with COVID-19, including a woman in her 40s, who is not vaccinated, in intensive care. Two of those people however are received treatment for other conditions.

There are now nine transmission sites:

Tuesday marked a new record for daily COVID-19 cases in the territory.

However, Dr Coleman said this reflected many household and close contacts of Covid patients now becoming infected.

"We really need to continue to follow those lockdown rules and get tested early if you're identified as a contact at an exposure location or experience symptoms."

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Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was too early to speculate about where the territory would be when lockdown was due to end on September 2.

"The number and issues that are most pertinent is people's time infectious in the the community," he said.

"The reason we are in lockdown is to reduce the transmission potential. If we weren't in lockdown that one case now that [has led] to over 160 infected people would be thousands of people infected."

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