Public Health restrictions are to ease this Friday (13 November) as the next step in the Territory’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan comes into effect.
ACT Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said key changes to restrictions included increasing the maximum occupancy for gatherings to 500 patrons and allowing patrons in an outdoor space to be able to eat and drink while standing rather than having to be seated.
“The decision to ease restrictions further in the ACT is guided by our public health principles,” Dr Coleman said.
“We are confident in our position and that we can continue our journey of opening the ACT back up in a COVID-safe way,” she said.
“The change to allow eating and drinking while standing in outdoor spaces reflects the considerable evidence that outdoor spaces present a lower risk of transmission of COVID-19 compared to indoor spaces.”
Dr Coleman said electronic check-in systems were important and ensured that the Territory could carry out contact tracing quickly and easily if there were any new cases of the virus.
“For those businesses that are not using an electronic method of requesting patron contact details, the free and secure Check In CBR app is available for venues to fulfill this requirement, which also removes the burden on venues to hold these records,” she said.
“We strongly encourage all venues and events to come on board.”
The Chief Health Officer said she was aware of strong interest from businesses and industry on how restrictions may change over the coming months.
“We know businesses, and the community more broadly, want to know more about restrictions over summer and the festive season,” Dr Coleman said.
“We are continuing to monitor and assess the COVID-19 situation and will release further detail on any further restriction changes in the coming week to enable people to forward plan,” she said.
Further information on the changes to restrictions can be accessed at this PS News link.
