Plane bringing South Aussies home arrives in Adelaide after second day of no new cases
A plane carrying 374 repatriated Australians from India has landed at Adelaide Airport. The aircraft is one of two due to arrive in coming days and comes as SA recorded its second day of no new cases on Sunday.
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The first of two planes that will repatriate Australians stranded overseas by the coronavirus crisis has touched down in Adelaide.
The aircraft, carrying 374 passengers, landed at a largely deserted Adelaide Airport at 7.20am.
The passengers were greeted by police and SA Health personnel.
Once they clear customs, they are expected to be moved onto a waiting bus and transported to the Pullman Adelaide hotel in groups of 20 at a time.
The State Government announced on Saturday that it would take part in a coordinated national operation to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Australians trying to return home from abroad.
A second flight will arrive tomorrow.
All passengers will be required to undertake supervised quarantine in hotels.
Premier Steven Marshall on Saturday said the State Control Centre had developed a plan to oversee the returning citizens “which will ensure the health and safety of all South Australians”
“All operational measures have been put in place to enforce the returning citizens’ 14-day quarantine period and ultimately keep South Australia safe and strong” Premier Marshall said at the time.
“We can’t leave Australians stranded. “These are Australian citizens who have been caught up and stranded with the COVID-19 Pandemic, and for the most part, have found it difficult to get home.”
Ambulances are also on standby at the airport to transport any sick passengers however it is understood no one on board is displaying any coronavirus symptoms.
It comes as South Australia recorded a second day in a row of zero new COVID-19 cases – now authorities want more young adults with cold-like symptoms to get tested.
The total number of cases in SA now stands at 435, with 354 people now recovered, or more than 80 per cent, and there are 77 active cases.
Seven people are in hospital, one in intensive care in a critical condition. The state death toll remains at four.
The zero result comes amid a testing blitz launched on Thursday.
The blitz led to 5209 tests in three days as authorities expanded their focus to people with symptoms but who had no travel history or known contact with confirmed cases.
Deputy chief public health officer Dr Michael Cusack said the age group 21 to 30 was under-represented in the blitz and appealed for young people who have a cough or sore throat to be tested rather than dismissing it as a seasonal cold.
“We very much encourage anyone between those ages of 21 to 30 who has symptoms of a sore throat, cough or a temperature to get tested,” he said, ad
ding that health officials are “very much buoyed” by the consecutive zero results.
“With the restrictions that have been brought, we really have managed to get control of it,” he said, while warning against the risk of becoming “slack” over social distancing.
Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade said SA has now had three weeks of zero or single digit new cases daily and reached milestones including more than 40,000 tests and 2 per cent of the population tested
“I think it is realistic to expect to see some easing of restrictions in the next month particularly in terms of elective surgery,” he said.
“Many other restrictions are dependent on getting an assurance we do have this disease under control. We need to brace ourselves for the fact border controls will not be the first wave of restrictions to be eased.”
National Cabinet will discuss elective surgery restrictions on Tuesday. Mr Wade said an issue had been availability of protective equipment for clinicians but this was resolved.
In another SA innovation, people who return a negative result for a coronavirus test will be sent an SMS alert to check their results online under a plan to speed the process and allay concerns.
Those who test positive will still be told in person with subsequent medical care, quarantine and contact tracing.
Patients taking the test can register their details with SA Pathology via an SMS, then when a negative result is available they will be sent a text alert to check it online.
Mr Wade said it would help people get swift peace of mind.
“Developed in conjunction with SA technology company Personify Care the new digital service is another example of SA Pathology embracing innovation,” he said.
SA Pathology director of Clinical Services Tom Dodd said the digital service is efficient and safe.
“We are performing in excess of 7000 tests a week, and on average, 98.7 per cent are negative results,” Dr Dodd said.
“The process of undergoing testing for COVID-19 and waiting for the results can be stressful so it is hoped the portal will reduce delays and ease some of the anxiety.
“Test results will be manually reviewed before entering them into the portal to ensure accuracy, and all patients who return a positive COVID-19 test result will still be contacted personally to inform them.”
The service will be available at all metropolitan and eight regional clinics from Monday and be rolled out across the state.
SA’s zero result comes as University of Melbourne modelling shows SA may have as few as 12 active cases by April 27 as more people recover.
Meanwhile, tight security is in place for the arrival of two flights bringing around 880 Australians from overseas. A flight from Chennai via Jakarta and Denpasar is due to land at 7.30am today and passengers will be taken under police escort to the Pullman Hotel in Hindmarsh Square for mandatory isolation. They will be swabbed then checked daily.
A flight from Mumbai via Jakarta and Denpasar is due at 8.45am Tuesday.
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Party, burnouts and 18 new fines
Eighteen people have been slapped with COVID-19 expiation notices after a group of up to 100 met at Penfield in their cars.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens slammed the Friday-night gathering and said its participants had “no regard” for community safety.
Police were called to Pellew Rd near Edinburgh Airport about 10.20pm after reports of people congregating in cars and performing burnouts.
“When we became aware of it, we attended (and) they dispersed fairly quickly,” Mr Stevens said. “It was a gathering of young people coming together … who had made arrangements to meet in the one location.”
He said five cars were involved in a rear-end pile up as they tried to leave the area.
No one was injured but the drivers – a Paralowie man, 19, a Lightsview man, 23, a Golden Grove woman, 21, a Smithfield Plains man, 22, and a Willaston man, 22 – were handed traffic expiation notices.
They, and 13 others, were also hit with fines for breaking COVID-19 restrictions.
So far, 74 people have received COVID-19 expiation notices, while 43 have escaped with warnings.
Anyone who sees large gatherings of people or cars should call police on 131 444.