Canberra records 794 new cases of COVID-19

There were no new cases on Friday, and more than 700 of the people infected have been cleared to leave self-isolation.

O-Week parties and social activities kicked off the cluster of cases, but the number of new cases reported has slowed in recent days.

ACT acting chief health officer Dr Vanessa Johnston said there had been at least 800 cases linked to the outbreak across residential halls of the Australian National University.

"ANU and ACT health have been liaising very closely about how to manage that," Dr Johnston said.

"ANU are doing a sterling job in ensuring that that doesn't spread any further and indeed, the case rate over recent days have dropped significantly."

READ MORE:

An ANU spokesman said 700 out of the 800 cases had recovered and were cleared by ACT Health to leave isolation.

The COVID positive students who were moved to Davey Lodge at the start of the cluster have left that accommodation.

Any new cases living on campus have been isolating in their own rooms, with some set to leave quarantine over the weekend.

ANU chief operating officer Paul Duldig said the latest figures were "very welcome news".

"While case numbers across the ACT have been slightly higher in the last few days, cases in our residences are trending rapidly downwards and now account for a negligible proportion of the territory's cases," Mr Duldig said.

"Over the last week the number of students in residence who have reported they are COVID-19 positive has steadily and significantly trended down from the peak on Monday last week. As of [Friday], 2 per cent of the 4800 students living in our residences are currently self-isolating."

Mr Duldig paid tribute to the ANU students who needed to self-isolate as well as everyone who supported them.

"For some of our students it has been a difficult start to semester and certainly not the one any of us would have wanted," he said.

"On behalf of our entire community, I thank the students and staff in the residences for their goodwill and patience.

"Thanks also to the many people across our campus community who quickly put their hands up and swung into action to support and care for any of our students who needed to self-isolate.

"In particular, thanks to the many students who helped their fellow residents and their community; whether it be with the deliveries of meals, reassuring their fellow residents, answering their questions or providing other essential assistance."

From Friday, a new push notification feature was rolled out in the Check In CBR app to alert users if they've been in a high-impact location where they may have been exposed to the virus.

"The push notification is only available for those businesses were checking CBR is still mandatory. So that's bars and pubs, registered clubs, nightclubs, strip clubs and brothels," Dr Johnston said.

"So please ensure everyone that you have the latest version of the app to be able to receive these notifications. If you receive a notification you'll be asked to monitor for symptoms and get tested if these develop."

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: