Canberra records one new coronavirus case, but Easter crowds prompt warning

The ACT has recorded just one new case of COVID-19 in the past three days — but authorities have again urged Canberrans to heed social-distancing advice after crowds gathered on the weekend.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said most Canberrans did the right thing over the Easter break by staying at home and practising physical distancing.

But ACT Policing reported that parts of Canberra, including Lake Burley Griffin's bridge-to-bridge walk and the IKEA store near the airport, became overcrowded at times.

"There are things that people do need to do over long weekends and that's understood," Mr Barr said.

"But what we're trying to achieve here is physical distance between people to slow [the spread] of coronavirus.

"The fantastic work that people have been doing, day in day out for weeks, can all be undone by one large crowd gathering."

He said while exercise was important for mental and physical health, people had to stay 1.5 metres away from others.

"It seems it takes a little while for some of these messages to get through," Mr Barr said.

"So groups of two, or your family or household groups only."

Police were also monitoring major roads leading into New South Wales on the weekend.

"I'm advised nearly everyone was compliant, but ACT Policing were required to turn a few cars around, including someone who thought that towing a caravan for a holiday into NSW would be a good idea," Mr Barr said.

ACT Policing did not issue any coronavirus-related fines at the weekend.

Woman in 50s latest person to be diagnosed in ACT

Over the weekend, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the ACT dropped from 103 to 102 — after further testing showed a case thought to be positive was actually negative.

However, one new case on Monday brought the total back to 103.

The latest person to be diagnosed was a woman in her 50s who had been in close contact with another confirmed case.

The ACT's acting Chief Health Officer Vanessa Johnson said Canberra currently had three people with coronavirus in hospital, two of whom were in intensive care.

"In total, 72 people have now recovered from the illness and have been released from self-isolation and that in itself is great news — this is nearly three quarters of all our recorded cases here in the ACT," she said.

The number of negative tests in ACT is now sitting at nearly 6,200.

Source of two cases remains a mystery

Dr Johnson said two positive cases that proved more complex to trace than previous cases remained under investigation.

"We're working extremely hard to try and identify their source," she said.

"The first case … has been under investigation for about two weeks [and] we're awaiting some final test results.

"Samples have been sent to NSW at Westmead Hospital for further testing and hopefully they will be available this week so we can wrap that up."

Dr Johnson said the investigation of a second case, involving a staff member from Canberra Hospital's ICU, was still in its early stages.

"While we're exploring all potential sources of exposure in this case, I would really like to thank all of the individuals [involved]," she said.

"Both the staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 and their close contact who had recently returned from overseas have done everything right and taken all appropriate steps."

May 28 NRL restart 'highly unlikely'

Asked for his view on whether the NRL season would be able to resume on May 28 as flagged by the league, Mr Barr said, subject to health advice, it was not looking promising.

"I don't blame them for wanting to plan … and wanting to get back into their competition — of course, every sporting code wants to do that," he said.

"But from this vantage point that date does seem highly unlikely."