ACT government is considering a rapid antigen test school pilot by end of term

A cluster of cases which started at Wanniassa School junior campus has grown to 56 cases, through tertiary and quaternary cases.

Transmission has occurred at two other school sites with five cases associated with Duffy Primary School and fewer than five cases liked to Erindale College.

Meanwhile, a cluster of cases at LDK aged care construction site in Greenway has grown to 11, while five people at St Andrews residential aged care in Hughes have tested positive for the virus.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the ACT government would make a decision within days on whether a test-to-stay regime would be trialled this term.

"We're just working through the logistics of that and whether it's worth actually going ahead with a test of test-to-stay rapid antigen testing this semester or whether we're better off just monitoring and watching what NSW and Victoria are doing," she said.

"So that's a very active conversation at the moment and we expect to have a decision on that in the next couple of days."

Under a test-to-stay regime, people identified as close contacts of a COVID-19 case would be able to attend school if they returned a negative rapid antigen test each morning.

"It does enable children and students to attend school where they otherwise might be in quarantine, which obviously has both learning benefits and social benefits for children and young people," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

"But weighed against that is the need to be tested every day and that can also have some mental health impacts associated with it."

Victoria has rolled out free rapid antigen testing for young children who will be able to return to childcare after seven days' quarantine if they test negative in a PCR test on day seven and continue rapid antigen testing for 14 days after exposure.

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Four further Canberra schools were listed as exposure sites on Monday.

Mount Rogers Primary School and Bonython Primary School had people infectious on campus from Tuesday, November 9 to Thursday, November 11.

Charles Weston School was exposed to the virus on Thursday, November 11 and Friday, November 12.

Someone was infectious at Duffy Primary School from Monday, November 8 to Friday, November 12.

The exposure dates at Orana Steiner School were extended. Exposure at the independent school occurred on November 1, 2, 4 and from November 8 to 11.

The ACT reported 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, bringing the total number of active cases to 175. There was one active case of COVID-19 in hospital in the ACT, but none in the intensive care unit.

The scale of the current outbreak stands at 1829 total cases, as the number of residents aged 12 and over who are fully vaccinated reached 96.4 per cent.

Ms Stephen-Smith said the vaccination rate would stop at greater than 99 per cent because population estimates for each age group were not completely accurate.

Daily testing remains under 2000 per day, with 1635 negative tests in the 24-hour reporting period after a weekend of relaxed restrictions.

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