Covid-19: SA Health uses QR code data in state first to trace coronavirus contacts of infectious miner Adam Ryan

Vital details from SA’s QR code contact-tracing system have been used for the first time to track possible Covid-19 community transmission – helping to thwart the latest virus threat.

Vital details from the state’s QR code contact-tracing system have been used for the first time to track possible Covid-19 community transmission, officials have revealed.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said her team accessed QR code data to trace contacts of an infectious fly-in-fly-out miner, Adam Ryan, aged in his 30s.

But SA Health has never used data from federal government’s multimillion-dollar Covid App.

Contact tracers accessed QR code data from customers who were at a KFC in Torrensville when Mr Ryan used the restaurant’s drive-through on Friday June 25.

Adam and Kristen Ryan. Picture: supplied by family

Electronic check-ins were also accessed at Adelaide Airport, where the miner spent about five minutes after arriving on Virgin flight VA1742 from Alice Springs at 5pm that day.

Officials said it was the first time the encrypted data, which is protected by the Department of Premier of Cabinet, was used to track a potential South Australian outbreak.

In the past, the data had only been used to warn SA flight passengers about outbreaks interstate.

Prof Spurrier said the QR code system was critical to SA Health’s contact tracing and “integral to our ability to respond quickly” to community transmission.

“Now, more than ever, South Australians should keep checking in to keep our community Covid safe,” Prof Spurrier said.

The Ryan children have all tested positive for Covid-19, and pet dog Madeline is also in isolation for 14 days at the RSPCA. Picture: Supplied by family

She said handwritten records significantly delayed accessing “valuable and potentially lifesaving contact details”.

SA Health has also found public complacency and forgetfulness was to blame for a 30 per cent slump in check-in compliance earlier this year.

A study, which involved focus groups of people aged 18-74, found the “lack of motivation” to use QR codes was sparked by a perception that there was a low risk of catching Covid-19 in SA.

More than a third of respondents said Covid was either gone or nearly eradicated.

“A reduced level of concern about Covid and associated forgetfulness are the reasons behind a reduction in check-ins,” the report said.

This view, the study found, was more prevalent in people aged under 45, while a quarter of people viewed an outbreak as “not very serious”.

Professor Nicola Spurrier revealed that QR codes have been used for the first time to track local contacts linked to a SA case. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

The study was completed in May but the results were released this week.

A police crackdown in May helped boost the number of people using QR codes, but authorities have raised concerns that public complacency was slowly returning before Mr Ryan’s case put the state on edge last week.

Latest data shows there have been almost 240 million QR code check-ins since the mandatory system launched in December last year.

Authorities say checking in is vital for contact tracers. Picture: Tricia Watkinson