Another repatriated Australian bumps up South Australia’s COVID-19 case numbers
A returned traveller — a woman in her 30s — has been recorded as the state’s newest COVID-19 case but the ‘old infection’ is not considered active.
Health
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South Australian has recorded another new COVID-19 infection on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 465.
The returned Australian traveller, who arrived from South Africa, is currently in hotel quarantine.
SA Health’s deputy Chief Public Health Officer Michael Cusack said the female in her 30s was transiting through the state to NSW.
He said the woman — who was travelling alone — returned a positive result on her day one test but was not considered infectious and was of no risk to the public.
There are no close contacts.
“This represents an old infection contracted overseas but it’s her first COVID-19 test and consequently is the first time she’s presented a positive result so she is added the South Australian tally,” Dr Cusack said.
“It’s important to stress we will see more cases like this where people have had an old infection but haven't been previously diagnosed because they haven't been tested in the country they've come.
“We don't consider this to be an active case.”
He said the woman was asymptomatic and the timeline of her symptoms were ‘distant’.
“What we’ve grown used to in SA is very high levels of testing … but in other jurisdictions and particularly overseas, it’s not so easy to get tested so we will undoubtedly see people getting their positive test on their day one test,” Dr Cusack said.
“Because you can continue to shed virus or parts of virus for some time after you've had an active infection, the presence of virus on those test swabs does not mean you're actually infectious.”
The total number of tests conducted in SA has hit 404,963, with 3498 done yesterday.
Originally published as Another repatriated Australian bumps up South Australia’s COVID-19 case numbers