As the shift towards more frequent use of rapid antigen tests (RATs) begins in the ACT, Canberrans can now inform health authorities of a positive RAT result via an online form.
"This information will help us to get a better picture of the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak and the current Omnicron wave that we have, so that we can plan for the future," acting ACT Health Minister Chris Steel said.
"In the short term, it will also give us the opportunity to get in touch with people who have tested positive, to put them in touch with health support if required."
The RAT form is available on ACT Health's COVID-19 website, but Mr Steel said there would not be penalties for people who did not comply.
"We are asking people who have undertaken a rapid test over the past week to also register their result if they had a positive result through the use of this simple online web form.
"We'll be endeavouring to separately report the outcomes of that possibly by Friday, separately to the results for the PCR tests."
Mr Steel said the new online tracking system would coincide with the anticipated delivery of more RATs to the ACT.
"We're going to be announcing further details about how that will work and the use of RATS in other settings over the coming weeks and days."
The launch of the new online form came after the territory recorded 1,078 new cases of COVID-19 through PCR tests.
There are currently 23 patients in hospital with the virus in Canberra, including three in intensive care and two on ventilation.
Vaccination figures show that 723 Canberrans aged between five and 11 received their first COVID-19 vaccination on the first day of the rollout, representing 1.8 per cent of that age cohort.
More than 98 per cent of ACT residents aged 12 and over have now received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Just over a quarter of residents aged 18 and over have received their booster.
Holiday programs close as staff contract COVID-19
Canberra childcare providers say they are struggling to staff school holiday programs, with a number of early educators contracting COVID-19.
"We have our school holiday programs all up and running and of course not enough educators to be able to staff those," Communities at Work CEO Lee Maiden said.
"With this COVID crisis again we have to, on a lot of occasions, be sending all of the staff into isolation, and we have no one to replace those educators.
National cabinet is considering relaxing COVID isolation rules for vets, early childcare centres, and rail and air services.
Current health guidelines allow workers in critical food and grocery production, logistics and distribution to skip isolation if they're a close contact with no symptoms.
But CEO of Early Childhood Australia Samantha Page says she is "not sure that relaxing rules is the solution here".
"I think the biggest challenge at the moment is access to testing," she told ABC Radio Canberra.
Ms Page said providing centres with a supply of RATs would be "an excellent way" to ensure access for those who need it.
"Early childhood centres are an excellent way to provide rapid antigen tests for families with young children, but also employers need them for staff," she said.
"It's very difficult at the moment in the early childhood sector, we've been on the front line of this pandemic for two years now."
Ms Page also called for more consistency from the federal government in their management of the Omicron outbreak.
"We really need clearer guidance for services across the country so that there's a consistent approach to responding to cases," she said.
"We need greater flexibility in the childcare subsidy system so that services can continue to receive revenue when families can't attend, either because they themselves have got COVID exposure or the service has had to close a room or reduce capacity for a while because of staff exposure.
"We need families not to have to pay their gap fees."
