SA Health apologises for text message bungle that leaves hundreds in limbo
SA Health has apologised for a bungled message sent to Brisbane travellers arriving in SA – confirming they do need to quarantine if they landed after 5pm on March 29.
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SA Health officials admitted to an isolation bungle involving at least 260 travellers from Brisbane into Adelaide.
The arrivals received text messages on Thursday advising them they didn’t have to quarantine for 14 days – but a second text sent hours later told them that the first message had been sent in error.
In a statement on Thursday night, SA Health said: “A clarification text message was sent to approximately 260 people who received incorrect information by SMS late (Thursday) afternoon.
“Anyone who arrived in South Australia after 5pm on 29 March is required to quarantine for 14 days and get a COVID-19 test on day 1, day 5 and day 13 of quarantine.
“We sincerely apologise for any confusion caused and thank travellers for their co-operation,” it said.
A hundred other people from Brisbane only received the first text message about not having to isolate.
Brisbane ended its snap three-day lockdown on Thursday, but South Australia is keeping its ban on travellers from the city.
SA’s COVID-19 transition committee met on Thursday afternoon and decided to make no changes to the border restrictions announced on Monday.
Tuesday would be the soonest the situation could ease, after the committee meets again that morning.
More than two million Queenslanders were caught up in the lockdown, which was designed as a circuit breaker to control two clusters of cases linked to healthcare workers.
SA chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier defended the decision to keep local restrictions in place. “The strain currently circulating in Queensland is the highly contagious UK strain of COVID-19.”
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