Canberrans asked to keep using Check In CBR app, despite end to contact tracing

The Canberra Liberals have called for the app to be scrapped, but ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said: "We need to be ready for the next thing, the next wave of COVID-19.

"We can expect another wave of COVID through winter and we need to be planning for that, and we've seen the Check In CBR app to date has been an incredibly useful tool.

The health minister said the government may still require Canberrans to check in to large events, and was working to automate the app. She also said it was useful for people who tested positive and wanted to remember where they had been.

"When [nightclubs] reopen and dancing is allowed again, those might be the kinds of venues that we'd be looking at retaining a check-in for," she said.

"Work is being done in the background ... to enable automation of people to be alerted if they have been at same location as someone who's subsequently tested positive for COVID-19."

Opposition health spokeswoman Leanne Castley said businesses were worried they would be fined for not enforcing check-ins.

Ms Stephen-Smith said: "There's absolutely no way we would be fining businesses or individuals for not using Check In Canberra at this point in time."

The health minister also urged Canberrans to book in for their boosters shots, as 16- to 17-year-olds become eligible for the third jab.

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Nearly 52 per cent of over-18s in the ACT had received a third jab by Thursday.

Ms Stephen-Smith said there were plenty of appointments available in ACT government clinics, but some GPs and pharmacists were struggling with stock.

"We've been working with our local primary care and with the Commonwealth to see if we can actually increase the supply that's available through those primary care options as well," she said.

In response to some parents' and students' concerns about the rapid antigen test rollout through schools, Ms Stephen-Smith said schools were ironing out logistical problems.

Some parents said they had short periods of time to get the tests, while others claimed they were still waiting.

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"It's been up to the school to kind of figure out what they think is going to work for their community," she said.

"[The department of] education and the schools themselves will be looking at whether they distribute in the same way."

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