SA’s economy to open up on December 1 as one new case revealed

SA should return to the previous level of restrictions next Tuesday, as one new case on Tuesday was linked to the Parafield cluster.

Premier Steven Marshall says the economy will open up and the state will return to previous restriction levels next Tuesday, December 1.

“I believe that we are now in a very good position to stare down this second wave. This could have been a potentially catastrophic situation in South Australia,” Mr Stevens said.

“We are continuing to rise to the challenge of this cluster. We are now in a very good position to stare down this second cluster.

“We are looking to Tuesday, December 1, as the day we hope we will go back to where we were before the Parafield cluster. We have our eyes firmly fixed on next Tuesday ... we want our economy open.”

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier announced one new case on Tuesday.

The man in his 20s is a close contact of a previous overseas arrival – both were originally thought to have contracted the virus overseas but SA Health testing on Tuesday showed they are part of the Parafield cluster and caught it at the Peppers medi-hotel.

Medi-hotel workers will now be tested daily, Professor Spurrier announced at a second press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

A 30-year-old man from the Parafield cluster is out of hospital, while a woman in her 50s is now in hospital, in a stable condition.

Professor Nicola Spurrier gives the daily COVID update. Picture: Tait Schmaal

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture Emma Brasier

Professor Spurrier said 4100 close contacts directly linked to the cluster remain in quarantine.

“We are nearly at 14 days of exposure for some of those people, but before anybody comes out of quarantine, they need a test – you need to have a test done today,” Professor Spurrier said.

“I haven’t popped the champagne bottle just yet, but I’ve got the bottle on ice.”

Professor Spurrier said information given to contact tracers was for “protecting the health of the public”.

Asked if the investigation surrounding the man who misled tracers could scare other people into also being untruthful, she said it was “a fine line we always walk in public health”.

On Monday, the Premier said South Australia enters a critical period over the next seven days to ensure no cases of community transmission.

Professor Spurrier on Monday revealed the state’s worst cluster rose by one case to 27 patients.

She remained “quietly confident” of the outlook but urged high rates of testing and public mask use.

“It is a critical week this week, and probably the week after, to have that high index awareness about your own body and your symptoms,” Prof Spurrier said.

“We are not out of the woods yet if we have had any community transmission.”