With case numbers and hospitalisations dropping and reporting now weekly, the ACT government has stepped down its public health emergency and further eased COVID rules.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the ACT will now "step down" the public health emergency declaration to a COVID-19 management declaration.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the changes are the next stage in the government's COVID-19 response.
"There will need to be ongoing support for Canberrans who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, and a mechanism that allows the government to swiftly implement the public health measures that have proven to be highly successful in suppressing the virus in the territory," he said.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said "the new COVID-19 settings are part of our staged plan to managing COVID-19 in a similar way to other infectious diseases like influenza".
"Canberrans should be reassured that if there is any significant development in relation to COVID-19, we will continue to take appropriate actions to keep our community safe, just as we have throughout the pandemic."
The ACT switched from daily to weekly reporting of COVID figures earlier this month, and Ms Stephen-Smith will stop providing a ministerial statement in the Assembly at the beginning of each sitting period.
While the peak of the Omicron wave appears to be behind us, we're seeing states and territories winding back restrictions, although some still remain. So what's left and what's next?
Mask mandate
Masks are no longer required on public transport and in taxis and rideshares in the ACT. It was the last jurisdiction to do so.
NSW, Victoria and South Australia dropped the mandates last week, joining Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory who had previously done so.
The ACT - like other jurisdictions - already dropped the requirement for masks on domestic flights.
Australian National University Medical School professor Peter Collignon said the mandate was no longer of much value unless people were particularly vulnerable.
Professor Collignon believes we may see more infections due to the scrapping of masks but "can't imagine we'll go back down to lockdowns or mandates of any number".
ACT Health still recommends people wear a mask if it isn't possible to physically distance.
Isolation periods
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced National Cabinet unanimously decided to scrap self-isolation for people testing positive for COVID-19 from October 14.
The territory decreased the isolation period by two days, from seven to five days, in line with the National Cabinet decision in August. This will stay in place until October 14.
Until then, the ACT government will still require people infected to report a positive RAT test to ACT Health and comply with additional measures for two days after being cleared from isolation.
People aged 12 and over must wear a face mask in an indoor space (other than their own home) on days six and seven after a positive COVID-19 test. This includes students in Year 7 to 12 attending school.
The scraping of self-isolation also means workers quarantining will not receive pandemic leave from October 14.
Household contacts
Until mandatory isolation ends on October 14, household contacts in Canberra no longer need to report their status to ACT Health.
A household contact is a person living with someone who tested positive to COVID-19 (or who was living with them 48 hours before the positive test).
Household contacts must still quarantine for seven days from the last time someone in their household tested positive, unless they are able to comply with specific risk mitigation strategies such as only leaving the house if necessary and wearing a mask outside your home.
However, if a household contact has previously been diagnosed with COVID-19 and completed a self-isolation period in the previous 28 days, they do not have to comply with these requirements.
Vaccines
Vaccine mandates will no longer apply to people who work in aged care facilities or disability care in the ACT.
Employers will now need to consider whether they wish to implement their own vaccination requirements in their employment policy or work health and safety settings.
Workplaces
COVID safety plans are no longer required for Canberra businesses and events.
Planning tools will remain available and ACT Health recommends businesses maintain an up-to-date COVID-19 safety plan to help manage the risk for staff, visitors and customers.
Hospitals
Canberra Health Services announced at the start of the week it would remove the two visitors a day limit for patients.
Staff and visitors over 12 years old in high-risk environments, such as hospitals or aged care facilities, must still wear a mask.
Visitors also still can not attend if they have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 14 days or are a high-risk contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 14 days.
Testing facilities
The Kambah COVID-19 drive-through testing centre will permanently close at 4pm on Friday September 30, and the operating hours at the ACT's remaining testing centres will be reduced from Saturday, October 1.
The Mitchell COVID-19 drive-through testing will operate every day from 8am to 2pm and the COVID-19 walk-in testing centre at Holt will open everyday from 8am to 4pm.
The COVID-19 walk-in clinic at the Garran surge centre has moved to Weston Creek Community Health Centre and will operate daily, but at reduced hours.
How does the ACT compare?
Despite the lifting of restrictions, the ACT still has slightly stricter COVID rules than other states and territories.
The changes put the ACT in line with most NSW rules, except in NSW COVID cases currently do not have to take extra precautions after their five-day isolation period.
Household contacts also do not need to self-isolate if they do not have symptoms in NSW, until October 14 when all states and territories won't require people to self-isolate.
Is the pandemic over?
The head of the World Health Organisation said recently the world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic, but is urging people to keep up their efforts against the virus that has killed more than six million people
"We are not there yet. But the end is in sight," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this month.
The comment was the most optimistic from the United Nations agency since it declared COVID-19 an international emergency in January 2020 and started describing it as a pandemic three months later.
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