Coronavirus

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:33): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Why does the Premier say that he is satisfied with the rate of the curve in South Australia when we have the second-highest per capita rate of cases?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Point of order. That question offends standing order 97, sir.

The SPEAKER: For that characterisation it's a minor breach at best. I am going to allow it in the spirit of questions. Premier, would you like to have a crack at that?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:33): When we look at the way that this data has been presented in the early stages of this, small movements can make large discrepancies in terms of the overall analysis of the data. As the member would be aware, there was one group that really has skewed that data quite significantly.

We have seen in the last few days the number not continuing to escalate. Having said that, there is no doubt that this number will escalate in the future. Please be aware—and this is important for all members to understand—we are not going to stop the disease coming to South Australia. So for those opposite, with their incredulous looks on their face, they should actually understand we are not going to stamp out the coronavirus in South Australia. No public health official would say that that is the objective.

As I have tried to point out to this house on numerous occasions—and I think that we, as elected members and leaders in the community, really do need to get a good understanding of this disease and we should be familiar with the basics of this disease—(1) it is a global pandemic; (2) we are not going to avoid it coming to South Australia, it is actually already here; (3) the fundamental problem that exists in other jurisdictions around the world is that they have got a massive imbalance in the demand for high-level health care with the ability to supply it.

We are doing everything we can to slow the rate of progress; we can't eliminate it. So we can't throw our hands in the air and scream, 'Oh my goodness, we've got another infection!' That is going to occur. That is the way these epidemics and these pandemics actually work. But what we are doing is following expert advice to slow the rate to a level so that the peak is something that our health system can cope with and simultaneously massively increasing the capacity of the health sector in South Australia to cope with it.

I am very satisfied that we have a strong plan to address this. In fact, I am very pleased that we have the experts that we do have in communicable diseases and public health administration in South Australia, and they swung into action as soon as this insidious disease came to the notice of the rest of the world. We are very fortunate that we have a strong plan to tackle this. If we continue to implement and roll out the elements of this plan and we continue to listen to the expert advice then we will put ourselves in the best position possible to deal with the inevitable consequences of an increase in infection in South Australia.

People will become infected with the COVID-19 virus. Eighty per cent of people will have very mild symptoms and they will get over it in a very short period of time. Our interest in South Australia is making sure that we have got the necessary resources in place for when that peak hits, and we know that six or seven per cent of the people who get that infection require high-level hospital care. That is our focus; it has been our focus now for weeks and weeks and weeks, and we continue to make progress.

Whether it be increased testing; whether it be putting new hospital beds in place or new resources in place in terms of ventilators, ECMO and of course the nursing staff that is required; whether it will be shifting likely cases that will come in to use those finite resources right at the time of the peak, there are a large number of elements to our plan and we continue to roll them out in the best interests of all South Australians.