774 new cases, 17 in hospital as Omicron explodes in SA

Tough new restrictions on home and public gatherings are back in a bid to slow the growing Omicron surge, with 774 new cases on Sunday.

This coronavirus article is unlocked and free to read in the interest of community health and safety. Get full digital access to trusted news from The Advertiser and Messenger with our great introductory offer.

There are now 17 people in hospital with Covid in South Australia as cases surged to a record 774 on Boxing Day.

“We are increasingly concerned about the Omicron variant,” Premier Steven Marshall said.

More than 20,693 tests were done in SA on Christmas Day and of the 774 new cases of Covid recorded – 81 per cent are the Omicron strain.

“There are 17 people in hospital as of last night as of midnight last night – three of them in ICU,” said Mr Marshall.

As of midnight on Sunday night, gyms to go back to one person for every seven square metres.

Density for indoor dining is back to 1 per four square metres and outdoor to one per two square metres.

“We would not be doing it if we were not very concerned about the Omicron variant,” said Mr Marshall.

Caps on home gatherings are back to 10, including children and babies.

There have been 4324 cases reported in South Australia since the pandemic started and 3402 since November 23 when borders opened.

Sunday’s new cases include 57 children, 40 teenagers, 346 women and 329 men.

Of these, 79 cases acquired their infection in South Australia and were known contacts of a positive case, 60 cases acquired their infection in South Australia with the contact unknown, 14 cases acquired their infection interstate, one case acquired their infection overseas and 620 cases were under investigation.

Of the 17 hospitalised cases, nine were fully vaccinated, two were partially vaccinated and six were unvaccinated.

Three people aged in their 30s, 60s and 70s are in ICU, with the man in his 30s on a ventilator. One is partially vaccinated and the other two are fully vaccinated.

In SA today there are 3196 active cases.

There are 3102 people in home quarantine and 77 in medi-hotels.

MORE STORIES

Exposure lists, Covid interviews scrapped by SA Health

‘Not viable’: Devastated hospitality industry reacts to restrictions

Your Omicron questions answered

Blame it on Covid: Boxing Day crowds fall short

Our ambo crisis: The long wait that costs lives

‘Marshall should apologise for ruining Christmas’: Mullighan

Premier: ‘Omicron doesn’t care about your vaccine hesistancy’

How SA got its reopening Covid modelling so wrong

In addition, the requirement for interstate travellers to get a negative test 72 hours before arriving in SA has been scrapped as the focus shifts to testing for those with symptoms.

Mr Marshall said people were required to do a rapid test on the way in but there would be “no way” authorities would be able to check those.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said the new Omicron strain was proving to be highly transmissible.

Professor Spurrier said it appeared two doses of current vaccines did not provide adequate protection from Omicron.

However, a third dose gave a similar level of protection to what two doses did for the Delta strain.

“With Omicron, as opposed to Delta, Omicron is not held so well with the two doses of vaccine which is why we are needing the strategy to really push these (third) doses out to the community,” she said.

“We have 87 per cent of the population vaccinated with these two doses but we are really going to need the three.”

Professor Spurrier said the revised restrictions were aimed to “try and slow down the spread to make sure everyone can have that third dose as quickly as possible.”

Covid testing station drive-through clinic at Ridgehaven. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

Of today’s cases, 243 were fully vaccinated, 47 unvaccinated and, in 484, ,the vaccination status was unknown.

There were 32 disability sites that were now exposure sites, with more than 40 confirmed cases in that industry.

Professor Spurrier said SA Health was moving towards a more automated system response, meaning people would likely get a text rather than a call if they caught Covid or were a close contact of someone with Covid.

She urged people to meet up socially with each others or exercise in an outdoors environment.

People should continue to wear masks and get vaccinated.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said there were no breaches of the cap of 30 people at home gatherings on Christmas Day and praised South Australians for their work so far.

CHRISTMAS DAY Covid UPDATE

South Australia recorded 634 new Covid cases on Christmas Day, with about 80 per cent of those believed to be the Omicron variant of the virus.

The number was a slight decline from the 688 positive test results reported on Christmas Eve.

There were also fewer tests conducted – 21,500 results contributed to the Christmas Day numbers, while 23,500 results were included on Christmas Eve.

SA Health published a list of 18 new exposure sites on Saturday evening, including CBD clubs Fat Controller and The Dog and Duck, as well as the Woolshed on Hindley, Hains and Co and the West Oak Hotel and other suburb spots.

However, several of the sites were listed at times longer than a week ago, meaning the isolation period for close contacts would already be over.

Saturday’s results revealed a surge in hospitalisations, with 12 patients now hospitalised, two in intensive care and one ventilated.

Of the 12, four are fully vaccinated, one is partly-vaccinated and seven are unvaccinated.

The ventilated patient is a person in their thirties.

Overall, the Christmas Day cases included 269 vaccinated people and 40 unvaccinated people, while the vaccination status of the remainder was unknown.

Originally published as 774 new cases, 17 in hospital as Omicron explodes in SA