There is no sign the Parafield cluster of COVID-19 cases has spread into the community. The only new case identified on Sunday was a returned traveller in quarantine.
South Australia recorded one new coronavirus case on Sunday, but it's not linked to the Parafield cluster.
Premier Steven Marshall and chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said there was no sign of further community transmission from the cluster of 26 patients that led to the state being locked down for three days.
The new case is a returned female traveller in her 20s who is safely in hotel quarantine. She became symptomatic on day 10 of her 14-day quarantine period.
Professor Spurrier revealed modelling that showed the state was "facing a second wave" if they had not promptly acted to shut down the Parafield cluster.
"I have no regrets on my advice and decision-making last week. I've no doubt it was the right thing to do," she said.
There have been 77,000 tests across the state this week, including 17,000 on Saturday.
Professor Spurrier urged everyone to not be complacent, maintain social distancing, wear a mask in public and get tested if displaying any symptoms.
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On Saturday, authorities revealed a Spanish man accused of lying to COVID-19 contact tracers is at the centre of the major investigation into the lockdown fiasco.
The state’s top cop revealed the man, 36, was the main person of interest to a new 20-strong SA Police task force.
Defending authorising Australia’s toughest restrictions, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the medi-hotel kitchen hand was legally in Adelaide on a temporary graduate visa due to expire mid-next month.
Detectives are investigating if any possible criminal activity motivated him to lie about his Woodville Pizza Bar delivery driver job.
The man, who also works at the Stamford hotel, told contact tracers he caught the disease from a pizza box after visiting for 10 minutes, sparking fears of widespread community transmission.
He actually had worked at the western suburbs shop, which is now under police guard. Among 26 cluster patients, he is recovering in the Pullman medi-hotel in Hindmarsh Square.
Mr Stevens, who is state COVID co-ordinator, has said the lie was the catalyst for the six-day lockdown, which ended early at midnight last night.
The lie was discovered a few days later after detectives re-interviewed him.
“We are interested in speaking to at least two other people who we believe can assist us with our inquiries,” Mr Stevens said but declined to name them.
Contact tracers are tracking at least 40 people linked to the Parafield cluster.
Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said they visited Roma Mitchell Secondary College girls’ campus, Gepps Cross; the Woodville pizza shop; Anglicare aged care home Brompton; and the Intensive English Language Institute located at Flinders University’s Sturt campus.
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SA Police issued 494 expiation notices between Thursday and Sunday morning relating to COVID-19 breaches by individuals and businesses.
There were 157 fines and 337 cautions.
"Police would like to remind the public that the expiations (fines in particular) were issued to people who have blatantly disregarded the requirements of the directions, while the greater population of South Australians were amazing and did the right thing," SAPOL said in a statement.
The Premier says he now anticipates a "normal" Christmas for South Australians as there is no sign of the cluster spreading in the community.
Premier Steven Marshall said it was "disgusting" that Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas was calling for medi-hotels to be shut down and returning travellers to potentially be housed in a disused detention centre.
He said Mr Malinauskas had "jumped on a bandwagon, deliberately undermining health experts in South Australia".
Mr Malinauskas called for the medi-hotel program and all repatriation flights into South Australia should be suspended indefinitely, following revelations the Parafield cluster was sparked by a medi-hotel worker catching the virus.
Mr Marshall said it was outrageous to suggest that South Australians returning home should be placed in a detention centre.
Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier says just one new case has emerged since yesterday – a returned female traveller in her 20s who is safely in hotel quarantine.
She became symptomatic on day 10 of her 14-day quarantine period.
No new cases have emerged linked to the Parafield cluster that has infected 26 people, despite another 17,000 tests on Saturday.
Across the state there have been 555 total cases since the start of the pandemic.
Premier Steven Marshall says his government is not looking to compensate businesses that were forced to close as a result of the 'circuit-breaker' lockdown.
Business SA is calling for SA businesses to be compensated for the shutdown, which will be eased early in the wake of revelations it was triggered by the false information by a pizza bar worker.
But Mr Marshall said he was focussed on steering the state back to the level of restrictions in place before the outbreak "which I think was the best level of restrictions in the country".
"In fact, South Australia was doing so well that we had more people employed in October than we had in January, February this year".
The Premier said the government's approach to the pandemic had been the same from day one – listen to the health experts and take swift, decisive action.
SA's Chief Public Health Officer has praised an "astute" junior doctor whose quick-thinking helped save the state from a full-blown COVID-19 second wave.
Prof Spurrier said the Lyell McEwin doctor was "a heroine".
"She's done a fantastic job. She was on the ball, she knew what she had to do. She heard this person cough a couple of times and thought 'they're not getting away without having a swab'."
Without the doctor's intervention, Prof Spurrier said, it would have been weeks before the outbreak was detected "and we would have had widespread community transmission by now".
Authorities have cautioned South Australia is "not out of the woods yet" as authorities continue working to smash the latest covid outbreak.
Premier Steven Marshall said he was "absolutely delighted" about the easing of restrictions but "my message to SA is very clear; we are not out of the woods yet … we are still managing a very dangerous cluster."
The Premier said South Australians had risen to the challenge with "100 per cent compliance" among those asked to seek testing. About19,000 tests were conducted on Friday.
Mr Marshall said he was pleased that none of the cases identified through testing had been examples of community transmission.
"All of the cases we can trace back to their origins," he said.
SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens told reporters on Saturday morning, the Stamford Hotel kitchen hand was a 36-year-old man of Spanish heritage.
He was in Australia lawfully on a temporary graduate visa that was due to expire in mid-December.
Commissioner Stevens declined to comment further pending the outcome of the investigation.
SA has recorded one new case of COVID-19 as the number of people in the Parafield Cluster rises to 26.
Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the new case, "pleasingly", was not an example of community transmission.
The new case was a close contact of a previous case.
The patient was in quarantine and did not pose a threat to the public.
More than 19,000 tests were carried out on Friday, with 4500 close contacts, or contacts of close contacts, identified through the process.
Meanwhile, the woman in her eighties, whose illness raised the alarm on the Parafield Cluster, has since been discharged and is currently in a medi-hotel with her husband.
– Greg Barila
Good morning, readers. The Premier, Health Minister and Chief Public Health Officer are scheduled to give an update on the current covid situation at 10.30am. They'll also likely speak about the dramatic events of yesterday. You can read more about that here.
-Greg Barila
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