Legislative Council: Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Contents

Coronavirus

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:22): Supplementary arising from the original answer: the minister noted that 3½ per cent of South Australia's population have now been tested. Does that 3½ per cent exclude people who have had more than one test or is it calculated differently?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:22): If I am understanding the information that's been provided to me, my understanding is that there's been 71,009 COVID-19 samples taken relating to 65,322 patients. My understanding of that is that you might be tested for COVID-19, you may need to go into isolation, you might be asked to have a test on coming out of your medical care. Of course, the reality is that the one patient can be tested more than once because they might have a recurrence of symptoms. They might be negative on the first occasion; that doesn't mean it won't be positive on the next occasion. The honourable member is correct that the global figure includes repeats, but still that's 65,000 tests.

The Hon. T.A. Franks: I think we should be clear on the figures. I just want to know.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Yes. I hope the honourable member finds that information useful.