This morning Premier Steven Marshall held a press conference after rumours of COVID cases leaked online across several media outlets.
New measures have been announced by Marshall that are being put in place to help combat the new, more infectious, Delta strain that is now in every state, bar Tasmania.
A miner who worked at the Tanami mine site in NT returned to South Australia over the weekend, and subsequently tested positive. Along with his wife and three of his children, who have now also tested positive, the whole family have now been transferred to Toms Court Hotel
On Saturday, the miner initially returned a negative test, but later developed symptoms and was retested.
The wearing of masks in indoor public spaces is strongly recommended at this time, though not mandatory, although the official stance on this may alter if the situation in SA becomes more serious.
Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier spoke at the conference, confirming the new five cases as a man in his thirties, his wife in her thirties, as well as their three children under the age of 10 and a small infant who has not yet tested positive.
The miner travelled on a charter flight into Alice Springs on a charter flight on the 25 June, boarding a Virgin flight on Friday 25, which arrived into Adelaide at 5pm on Friday night. He wore a mask the entire flight and moved through the airport where he was picked up by his wife and driven home. On the way he stopped to get takeaway food before arriving home.
Spurrier has confirmed 121 people were on the flight, with 108 being contacted and asked to quarantine immediately and get tested. Spurrier urged those remaining on the flight who were unable to be contacted by SA to also quarantine and get tested immediately,
SA Health are now working tirelessly to look backwards through every potential contact and exposure point that may have been visited by the family, to contain the spread of the Delta strain within South Australia.
There has been a follow up with over 900 miners, but the mine themselves (Tanami mine) are very thorough in contact tracing, already sending an SMS message to all the workers who were at risk, which the SA individual received on Saturday morning. He quarantined at home with his family after that time, initially testing negative.
After being retested on Tuesday the miner and his wife tested positive, as now have three of their children.
28 miners have returned from the miners in the NT and remain isolated during this time, with Marshall calling this another excellent example of South Australians acting to keep the state safe.
Regarding new statewide restrictions, home gatherings have now been reduced to ten for the foreseeable future, and face masks are now being recommended for people to wear in public for examples in shopping centres where contract tracers may find it difficult to establish who you have stood in close contact with.
If you cannot socially distance at work and there is an ability to work from home, this should be something considered by Australian businesses and workplaces for the foreseeable future. Marshall confirmed this would not be for a long period of time and that this does not affect essential workers.
Marshall assured South Australians during the conference that he does not want a lockdown in South Australia, with lockdowns currently underway in QLD, WA, NT, ACT and NSW.
This comes off the back of South Australian restrictions announced earlier this week which reduced public gatherings to a cap of 150 and the density arrangements for gatherings to 1 person per 2sqm.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens asked people to continue to be vigilant with checking in to venues, even if just for a two minute visit into a shop, commenting that the previous level of over one million QR code check-ins a day has started to decline.
Spurrier also confirmed the medevac chartered flight of a South Australian family who had tested positive and were then transferred from a hospital overseas into an Adelaide hospital, noting that this was a common occurrence with each exemption approved by the Commonwealth and travel insurance typically covering this procedure.
All South Australians who have symptoms of COVID-19, no matter how mild, are asked to come forward to get tested as soon as symptoms appear.
People experiencing any of the following symptoms should be tested for COVID-19:
• Fever or chills (in the absence of an alternative illness that explains these symptoms)
• An acute respiratory infection e.g. symptoms of cough, sore throat, runny nose, or shortness of breath
• Loss of smell or alteration in the sense of taste
Call the SA COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787, or go to www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/COVID2019; www.covid-19.SA.gov.au for more information.
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