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The ACT has recorded 17 new cases of COVID-19, a day after the territory extended its lockdown in a bid to stamp out the virus. There are now 45 active cases in the ACT, none of whom have been hospitalised. A record number of tests were conducted in the ACT on Monday, with 7350 samples collected. Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said 10 of the new cases were linked to previous cases, and there were six sites across the ACT where transmission had been recorded. Transmission sites have been identified at the Downer Community Centre, the Fiction nightclub, the Assembly Pub in Braddon, the Lennock Jaguar car dealership in Phillip, the Gold Creek School and Lyneham High School. Dr Coleman said there were four cases linked to Lyneham High School, in addition to the primary case there. Three cases had been identified associated with Gold Creek school, along with three at the Downer Community Centre and at least six with the Fiction nightclub. "We're starting to see secondary and even tertiary [cases]. That just goes to show us how quickly this is transmitting and how transmissible this is," Dr Coleman said. Three of the new cases are people who attended the Canberra Institute of Technology's Bruce and Reid campuses. A person also attended the Chapman Primary's after school care while potentially infectious. READ MORE: Dr Coleman said she expected the number of exposure sites would reach 100 by Wednesday. There are now more than 6500 self-identified close contacts being managed in the ACT by health authorities. The large number of exposure sites has put pressure on the ACT's testing capacity, with many close contacts seeking tests. Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the testing demand had put pressure on the ACT's health workforce, and said discussions were still ongoing to bring medical staff into assist. "If you have a nursing background and you want to volunteer your services and you're not currently working as part of the Covid response, please get in touch with Canberra Health Services," Ms Stephen-Smith said. The Health Minister said ACT Health had looked at a booking system to manage demand across government-run clinics but found it would "not be beneficial". "If you know there's a really long queue, it's quite appropriate to wait and go into quarantine, particularly if you're coming to get tested because you've been at one of those casual exposure locations," Ms Stephen-Smith said. "We're just asking people to be a little patient and be a little thoughtful about when they come forward for testing." Dr Coleman said investigations into the origin of the outbreak were still ongoing, including further work to understand which order early cases in the outbreak became infected. Popular pubs, gyms and the CIT were added to the growing list of exposure sites after 19 new cases of coronavirus were identified in the ACT on Monday. Club Lime in Gungahlin, F45 Training in Barton and the Civic Pub on Lonsdale Street are among the potentially high-risk environments visited by someone who has been exposed to COVID-19. READ MORE COVID-19 NEWS: Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown 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:
The ACT has recorded 17 new cases of COVID-19, a day after the territory extended its lockdown in a bid to stamp out the virus.
There are now 45 active cases in the ACT, none of whom have been hospitalised.
A record number of tests were conducted in the ACT on Monday, with 7350 samples collected.
Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said 10 of the new cases were linked to previous cases, and there were six sites across the ACT where transmission had been recorded.
Transmission sites have been identified at the Downer Community Centre, the Fiction nightclub, the Assembly Pub in Braddon, the Lennock Jaguar car dealership in Phillip, the Gold Creek School and Lyneham High School.
Dr Coleman said there were four cases linked to Lyneham High School, in addition to the primary case there.
Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Three cases had been identified associated with Gold Creek school, along with three at the Downer Community Centre and at least six with the Fiction nightclub.
"We're starting to see secondary and even tertiary [cases]. That just goes to show us how quickly this is transmitting and how transmissible this is," Dr Coleman said.
Three of the new cases are people who attended the Canberra Institute of Technology's Bruce and Reid campuses.
Dr Coleman said she expected the number of exposure sites would reach 100 by Wednesday. There are now more than 6500 self-identified close contacts being managed in the ACT by health authorities.
The large number of exposure sites has put pressure on the ACT's testing capacity, with many close contacts seeking tests.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the testing demand had put pressure on the ACT's health workforce, and said discussions were still ongoing to bring medical staff into assist.
"If you have a nursing background and you want to volunteer your services and you're not currently working as part of the Covid response, please get in touch with Canberra Health Services," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
The Health Minister said ACT Health had looked at a booking system to manage demand across government-run clinics but found it would "not be beneficial".
"If you know there's a really long queue, it's quite appropriate to wait and go into quarantine, particularly if you're coming to get tested because you've been at one of those casual exposure locations," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"We're just asking people to be a little patient and be a little thoughtful about when they come forward for testing."
Dr Coleman said investigations into the origin of the outbreak were still ongoing, including further work to understand which order early cases in the outbreak became infected.
Popular pubs, gyms and the CIT were added to the growing list of exposure sites after 19 new cases of coronavirus were identified in the ACT on Monday.
Club Lime in Gungahlin, F45 Training in Barton and the Civic Pub on Lonsdale Street are among the potentially high-risk environments visited by someone who has been exposed to COVID-19.
Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown 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:
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