SA wakes up to full lockdown as circuit-breaker restrictions begin for six days
South Australians have woken up to full lockdown. Overnight new directions were put in place – hardware stores can now stay open for essential services and supermarkets can trade for 24 hours. Rules on dog walking have also been clarified.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
South Australia is in its first day of full lockdown for at least six days, as authorities race to stop the Parafield cluster before it triggers a second COVID-19 wave and disrupts this year’s Christmas celebrations.
THIS STORY IS NO LONGER UPDATING: FOR LATEST GO TO OUR LIVE BLOG
People have been ordered to stay at home, schools and universities are shut and all but essential services are closed in response to the outbreak’s unusually fast infection rates.
In legally enforceable rules that authorities warned would “impact virtually every member of the community” until at least next Wednesday, elective surgery was cancelled, regional travel banned and all public activities as well as hospitality halted. Exercise outside the home is banned, as are weddings and funerals, under Australia’s toughest pandemic restrictions. Aged-care facilities are also in lockdown.
Critical infrastructure, medical facilities, supermarkets, public transport, airports, petrol stations, post offices, banks, bottle shops and vets remain open. Health officials have strongly advised people to wear masks in public. Hardware stores were also added to the list late last night. They are now permitted to stay open for essential services like emergency tradie work. And supermarkets can trade 24 hours for the quarantine period.
Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier this morning said she hoped the six-day circuit breaker would stamp out the virus.
“What I’ll be hopeful for if we just have absolutely minimal cases over the next six days,” she told ABC radio this morning.
Prof Spurrier said people with symptoms should still get tested today, not “the worried well”.
A press conference update is scheduled for 10.30am Thursday.
Premier Steven Marshall said the restrictions are harsh, but necessary.
“We want Christmas, we want people to be moving freely around the state in early December.”
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens this morning said people could take their dog for a walk – but only if they were going out for an essential service.
“If you’re walking to the shops on your own for essential goods then the answer is yes (you can take your dog),” Mr Stevens said.
“We don’t want people to be smart arses and manipulate this to do what they want to do.”
Mr Stevens said health experts deemed dog walking and exercise as non essential.
Additional police presence will be out on the streets for the six days, he said.
“We do have additional patrols out making sure people are doing the right thing.”
Mr Stevens asked people to be sensible and use common sense to determine whether they are able to do certain things, like dropping their children to their part time jobs.
“We’re relying on people to apply common sense.”
SA Health reported the state’s sixth, and worst, cluster only rose by two patients, taking the total to 23.
It includes 15 members of the same family, who work in medi-hotels, aged care and correctional services and mostly caught it from a “super spreader” gathering. Contact tracers were investigating seven other suspected cases. More than 5000 close contacts are in quarantine at home or in hotels, including 119 police officers, school students and medi-hotel workers.
Urgent public alerts were issued for three northern suburbs schools, the city’s Peppers Hotel – the cluster’s epicentre – Elizabeth Aquadome and a “high risk” Woodville Pizza Shop, which is linked to a trio of infectious patients and two medi-hotels.
Anyone who visited those locations must immediately isolate and get tested.
In other developments on Wednesday:
Panic buying hit supermarkets, retail and fast food, as Police Commissioner Grant Stevens publicly condemned the “completely unacceptable” practice and warned abusive customers would be arrested while as retailers placed caps;
Extended trading hours will be granted for 24-hour weekday trade and 9am to 9pm on Sundays under a 14-day exemption Treasurer Rob Lucas said would “help support vital physical distancing measures”;
The Prime Minister, speaking from Tokyo on his first official overseas trip since the pandemic, offered further Commonwealth support;
More troops were flown in and contact tracers enlisted from across the country;
Mask supplies were assured to be “substantial”;
A Record 9659 tests were recorded in SA on Tuesday as the total number hit 605,086;
Extra testing clinics were launched, more country health staff sent to Adelaide and existing sites opened for longer to cope with huge demand;
The number of sick patients rose to 35, including the elderly parents of the cluster’s source.
The parents, both in their 80s, were in a stable condition in the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s COVID ward.
Premier Steven Marshall said it was a strategy of short term pain for long term gain.
“We are going hard and we are going early. Time is of the essence. We must act swiftly and decisively. We cannot wait to see how bad this becomes,” he said at a 12.30pm press conference on Wednesday.
“We must act swiftly and decisively on the health advice to stay ahead of the game. That health advice is we need a circuit breaker.
“We need a circuit breaker to stay ahead of this.”
Contact tracing teams are stretched to their limits with potential transmission sites identified right across the metropolitan area.
Prof Spurrier said SA Health was also looking at expanding testing station opening hours.
“We are also looking at getting resources from interstate (to help with that),” she said.
She said the cluster’s COVID-19 strain had a very short incubation period that meant when someone was exposed they became infectious within 24 hours or less.
“The other characteristic of the cases we’ve seen so far is they’ve had minimal symptoms, and sometimes no symptoms, but have been able to pass it on to other people,” Prof Spurrier said.
That characteristic meant that a generation, or stage of people passing on the virus to others, was only about three days.
SA was now at the virus’s fifth generation but contact tracing had been done up to the fourth generation.
“We don’t have any time to wait. If I just thought about this all day and then told the Police Commissioner and the Premier tonight, we would already be that 12 hours behind. So we really do need to act fast on this. So that’s the rationale,” Prof Spurrier said.
Mr Stevens, also the state coordinator during the COVID-19 emergency, said he was “100 per cent supportive of the approach that’s being taken”.
“The changes that are occurring now as a circuit breaker are quite comprehensive and will have an impact on virtually every member of the community,” he said.
“This is not yet a complete list. South Australia Police, along with SA Health, are working to consolidate this list.”
Mr Stevens said there were substantial supplies of face masks in South Australia and the logistics of distributing these across the board were being worked out.
This meant masks were not mandatory at this stage.
“At this point in time it’s where possible you should wear a face mask,” he said.
He said it was going to be a particularly challenging time for supermarkets and warned against disorder.
“We will have police officers on standby to attend. If we see any civil disorder we will be taking action. This is completely unacceptable. There is no need for panic buying exercises.”
SA Health reported two new cases on Wednesday. It confirmed the strain originated from an overseas case of an ex-pat in his 50s who travelled from Britain in early November. The cluster is now at 23 cases.
But authorities hold grave fears over the Woodville Pizza shop on Woodville Road that is considered one of the Parafield cluster’s hot spots amid fears the disease has spread throughout the western suburbs.
There are at last 12 other cases still under investigation while more than 4000 people remain in quarantine either in their home or in medi-hotels.
Authorities are now concerned about the Findon and Woodville areas as well as Parafield, Elizabeth and Salisbury.
See the map below for potential virus sites and what to do if you have visited any of them:
Join the conversation
‘It can be fatal’: Health warning for SA babies as RSV spike climbs
A health alert has been issued to SA parents after a shock spike in RSV cases presenting to emergency rooms – with more than half being young children under the age of 5.
Read more
New emergency ‘threats’ putting SA at risk, landmark inquiry finds
The Covid pandemic, River Murray flood crisis, bushfires and statewide blackout were all declared major emergencies over past 20 years. Now, a major inquiry identifies new threats risking state.
Read more