SA Covid updates for January 27, 2022: 13 deaths but SA is ‘over the peak’

There have been 13 deaths reported from Covid – the state’s total death toll is now 100, as Premier Steven Marshall says SA is “definitely past its peak”.

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SA Health has announced 13 deaths from Covid, taking South Australia’s total death toll to 100.

In a release on Thursday, SA Health said the reported deaths were of: a man in his 50s, a man in his 70s, two men in their 80s, two men in their 90s, two women in their 60s, two women in their 70s, one woman in her 80s and two in their 90s.
At a press conferene earlier on Thursday, Premier Steven Marshall says the state had recorded 1953 new Covid cases in the 24 hours to midnight.

“These numbers do bob around but this is significantly below the seven day average now,” Mr Marshall said.

“I think we are definitely past our peak now here in South Australia.”

The state has 25,735 active cases at present.

There are 288 people in hospital, with 27 in ICU and five on ventilation, which Mr Marshall said was “well within our total capacity”.

“Things are tracking well at the moment but we can’t be complacent,” he said.

Mr Marshall again urged people experiencing symptoms to get a PCR test, which was far more accurate than rapid antigen tests.

There were currently no queues for PCR tests, he said.

Mr Marshall said he was “very concerned” about the impact of ongoing restrictions on the hospitality industry, and all industries.

However, authorities were currently looking at the potential impacts of easing restrictions to avoid a “second wave” of the virus. He said restrictions on businesses would be the first to be looked at – home gathering caps would be changed later.

“Naturally, we want to increase the number of people going into the CBD but we want to do it in a safe way,” he said.

Regarding the teachers’ strike, Mr Marshall said Professor Spurrier had met with the Australian Education Union and he didn’t believe there was “any need” for a strike.

REPLAY THE UPDATE

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26 UPDATE

Premier Steven Marshall says seven more Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours but 13 more will be added to South Australia’s total. The state has now recorded 87 deaths since the pandemic began.

“Seven deaths reported to us in the last 24 hours but there are 13 that will be added to our total, taking it to 87, SA health has done a full reconciliation with all residential aged care facilities in SA and that takes our total since the beginning of the pandemic to 87,” Mr Marshall said

NO TIMELINE FOR ELECTIVE SURGERY RETURN
Premier Marshall was unable to give a timeline for the lifting of a ban on non-urgent elective surgery, which was introduced on January 3 to free up resources for the Covid-19 response.

He said the matter would be discussed at a meeting on Friday.

“The last time we lifted it in a sort of graduated way … at the moment we are looking at some information that will provide advice on the best way to go about it this time,” he said.

“Certainly it is my intention to return elective surgery as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

REPLAY WEDNESDAY’S COVID UPDATE

Mr Marshall said 2041 new cases had been recorded with 1926 coming via PCR tests and 475 from RATs. There are 288 people in hospital, 26 of whom are in intensive care with four on ventilators.

The Premier said he hoped South Australia was now “at or past” its Omicron wave peak and that some workers would start making their way back to the city as early as tomorrow.

Mr Marshall said as of tomorrow, people would be “gradually” encouraged to start returning to the office.

He said a “pathway” to support small businesses and ease restrictions would be released later this week.

People have also been encouraged to continue being tested for Covid-19, and that close contacts should seek PCR tests instead of RATs.

“It’s our strong advice if you are deemed a close contact, PCR is our preference. It’s far more accurate,” Mr Marshall said.

“It’s a very sensitive test the PCR test, far more sensitive and accurate than the rapid antigen test. There are no now no lines for PCR testing in South Australia at the moment”. More than 14,000 PCR tests were conducted in SA on Tuesday.

Mr Marshall said the government was planning to “ bring forward” training for pharmacy students to help accelerate SA’s vaccination roll-out.

Mr Marshall said there was currently “more supply for vaccination than there is demand” and strongly urged parents of children aged 5-11 to get them jabbed today.

He said there were “more than 1000 appointments available” at the Wayville vaccination hub “every single day”. 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25 UPDATE

On Tuesday, the state recorded five deaths and its lowest number of Covid cases this year, as the Premier announced a new phone monitoring program for infectious South Australians.

There were also 1869 new cases on Tuesday – down from 2009 on Monday.

“This is the lowest number (of cases) we have had this year,” he said.

There are 287 patients in hospital, including 32 in ICU, five of whom are ventilated.

Mr Marshall said two of the five deaths occurred in the past 24 hours, while the others were from an earlier time and only reported today.