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Canberra will stay in lockdown until the national vaccination average hits 70 per cent – even if the ACT achieves the feat weeks earlier.
The Australian capital is set to start opening up gradually after its lockdown, which is slated to end on October 15 following a four-week extension.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr expects the ACT to be in a strong position to start reopening gradually as national vaccination thresholds of 70 per cent from mid-October and 80 per cent from early November are reached.
He argued to end lockdown before the national average caught up would be contrary to the national reopening plan, and would be risky because so many people moved in and out of Canberra.
Canberra will stay in lockdown until the national vaccination average hits 70 per cent – even if the ACT achieves the feat weeks earlier (pictured, a woman getting a vaccination jab in Canberra recently)
In Canberra, more than 50 per cent of residents aged 12 and older are currently double-dosed (pictured, a woman outside the Covid vaccination clinic at the Australian Institute of Sport)
'We are an island jurisdiction within NSW without the capacity to have hard borders. So we also need the population that's coming into the city to be vaccinated as well,' Mr Barr told reporters on Wednesday.
'We expect restrictions to gradually change as we transition through these vaccination phases in October and November, with the caveat that they may need to be adjusted to
