Canberrans will be fined if they ignore new guidelines restricting gatherings to no more than two people other than family members or householders.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the government would first look to issue warnings to people who don't follow social distancing measures as part of an education phase, but those who continued to breach the rules would be fined.
"Police will have the power to issue on the spot fines," Mr Barr told ABC radio on Monday.
"We'll look at what other states and territories are doing and there will be significant on-the-spot fines.
"It won't be like a nuisance fine for not voting. This is serious."
Fines of $1000 will apply in NSW, while a harsher penalty of $1600 will be handed out in Victoria to enforce the measure.
The warnings and education approach of the ACT is in contrast to that of NSW, after the state's police commissioner Mick Fuller said officers would be handing out on-the-spot-fines from Monday.
The ACT is expected to announce how much its fines would be later on Monday.
"In the first instance, we want to educate and warn and we won't move immediately to issue fines," Mr Barr said.
"But if there is flagrant abuse of this, people can expect to be fined."
The moves come after the national cabinet on Sunday moved to restrict all outdoor gatherings to no more than two people.
All residents have been advised to stay at home, unless it is for food or medical supplies, to go to the doctor, to get exercise or to go to work when it is impractical to work from home.
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The ACT Chief Minister said he welcomed news of a wage subsidy for employees who have been forced out of work due to the impact of coronavirus.
Full details of the subsidy are yet to be announced, but Mr Barr said the measures would provide much-needed relief for workers and businesses.
"This will hopefully address many of the questions and concerns that people have had over the last few weeks about how they will get through the next six months," Mr Barr said.
"Nothing can fully cushion the impact of [the virus] on our economy and the Australian economy and the global economy, but it's another measures to get around the next period.
"It will put us in a better position than we were a couple of days ago, but it won't get us back to where we were before the virus."
There was still no evidence of community transmission in the ACT. However, of the 77 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the ACT as of Sunday, two were being investigated for how they contracted COVID-19.
"If we can contact trace and identify the source, then they will fall into one of the existing categories ... or if there isn't a clear link to any of those then we may indeed have our first unexplained, and therefore quite potentially, community transmission cases," Mr Barr said.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith told the media on Sunday that community transmission was likely to appear in Canberra within the next week.
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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