Three more people have died with COVID-19 in Canberra as the ACT records 791 new cases.
ACT Health this morning confirmed that a man in his 70s, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 80s had all died with COVID-19.
Health authorities said two of the deaths occurred within the latest reporting period, but one death occurred in February.
It is unclear why the February death was reported by ACT Health today.
No information was provided about whether the people who died had underlying health issues or were fully vaccinated.
The three additional deaths take the total number of Canberrans who have died with COVID-19 since March 2020 to 37.
There are now 31 people in hospital with the virus in Canberra, including one person in intensive care who is being ventilated.
'Vaccine fatigue is very real': Deputy Chief Health Officer
Today the ACT reached the milestone of 70 per cent of Canberrans aged 16 and older having received their COVID-19 booster.
79 per cent of Canberra children aged five to 11 have also received a single vaccine dose.
In a press conference, ACT Deputy Chief Health Officer Vanessa Johnston said that in the five-11 age group, almost 11 per cent of children had received their second vaccination in the first four days they were eligible.
"We've also neared the 80 per cent milestone for ACT kids aged five-11 who've received their first dose COVID vaccination, so we're leading the nation there and we're really proud of that achievement," she said.
She said high vaccination rates were especially important because the territory was expecting an increase in cases over the coming weeks, with the emergence of the new BA.2 Omicron strain.
"It is likely that the proportion of BA.2 cases is increasing as it is nationally, and indeed globally. So like NSW, the ACT anticipates that the BA-2 strain could become the more dominant strain in coming weeks," she said.
"We do know that BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1 but the difference is less than what we see between BA.1 and Delta."
Dr Johnston warned that in the lead up to winter, health authorities were also preparing for a larger flu season with the return of international travel.
She encouraged all people to get a flu vaccine, but acknowledged that some people may be feeling some "vaccine-fatigue".
"It's been a long rollout and there's been some complexity and confusion along the way, but I think Canberrans on the whole are really good with taking up health advice, and so we still are really strongly encouraging people to heed that advice," she said.
