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The improving COVID-19 situation in Victoria and New South Wales has encouraged health authorities in the ACT to ease restrictions on venues in the territory from 9am tomorrow.
As such the gathering cap will be increased to a maximum occupancy of 500 patrons (up from 200), and those in outdoor spaces will be allowed to eat and drink while standing rather than having to be seated.
All other current restrictions and venue capacity rules will remain the same.
"The decision to further ease restrictions has been driven by the improving situation in Victoria, the situation in NSW remaining relatively stable and the strong position we are in here in the ACT, with Canberra businesses, venues and facilities having established COVID Safety Plans in place," says the ACT government.
"The change to allow eating and drinking while standing in outdoor spaces reflects the considerable evidence that outdoor spaces present a lower risk of transmission of COVID-19 compared to indoor spaces."
Health authorities have encouraged venues to register to use the free Check In CBR app.
The app allows for venue operators to record visitor details digitally, making contract tracing easier for public health workers and taking the burden off venues to keep those records themselves.
The move comes as Victoria has gone 13 days without any new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 today.
Updated at 4.23pm AEDT on 12 November 2020.
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