COVID-19 Testing

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:03): My question is to the Premier. How many interstate travellers from moderate-risk LGAs have failed to comply with the COVID-19 testing requirements since the opening of the borders last week? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms Bedford: Well, I want to hear the answer.

Mr PICTON: Thank you, member for Florey. Travellers from moderate risk LGAs, like Sydney and Melbourne, are required to get a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of their arrival in South Australia.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:03): I don't have that statistic and I am not sure whether we keep that exact statistic. As people would know, from Tuesday last week we moved into a different phase of managing COVID here in South Australia. Prior to getting to that 80 per cent fully vaccinated status for those 16 and over, we were very concerned about getting a single case here in South Australia because we knew that this potentially could set off the requirement for putting our state into lockdown.

Much of the rest of the country has been in lockdown for months, some of them for many, many months due to the Delta spread, prior to getting that vaccination rate up to a higher level. But new cases here in South Australia are inevitable. In fact, I think the border has now been open for eight days—I don't think there are any new cases today—and we have had 10 cases with no examples of community transmission here in South Australia yet. So we are moving to a different level of managing and living with COVID-19 which does have a lower threshold in terms of that surveillance of people coming across the borders.