COVID-19 Health Advice

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question about COVID outbreaks.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: The media is now reporting on the first cases of community transmission since borders opened last week.

1. Can the minister provide an update of the situation; is it of concern?

2. What is the history of those involved in this incident? Were they vaccinated, has Omicron been detected here and will there be a lockdown in this particular LGA?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for his question. I can only provide an update that was provided to me immediately before I came into the chamber, and that is today's COVID-19 update issued by the Department for Health and Wellbeing. It says:

There have been three new cases of COVID-19 reported today. There have been 935 cases reported in South Australia to date.

Today's cases are two men in their 50s who are South Australian residents and attended the same event in South Australia, with interstate travellers also attending the same event. While the cases are currently under investigation, we believe the virus was passed on from an interstate traveller at the event. We expect exposure locations to follow.

The third case is a child who acquired her infection overseas and has been in quarantine since arrival.

On the question that the honourable member asked in relation to the vaccine status of the new cases, I can only extrapolate. The update provides a new case breakdown which says, 'New cases today, 3; New cases vaccinated, 2; New cases unvaccinated, 1.' On the assumption that the child is below the age of 12 and has not been vaccinated, the implication I take from that is that both of the men in their 50s were vaccinated.

I should pause to stress that I am sure that SA Health will put out whatever information South Australians need to respond to these current cases. Members would be aware that late yesterday there were exposure locations indicated in relation to Robe. Again, that information is available on the website and my understanding is that SA Pathology is bolstering the testing services in the Robe area.

In terms of other elements from this update, I think it is encouraging to see the tests carried out yesterday, which was a Tuesday obviously, were more than 10,000—10,728. That is very encouraging. I hope that is enough to be encouraging for Professor Spurrier because she is a lady of high standards. Certainly, we have seen a significant improvement in testing rates recently. That is much to be applauded.

It was also great to be able to have a look at the COVIDSAfe Check-In data from recent days. I was delighted to see that on one day last week we almost got to 2.6 million check-ins in one day. It's certainly the largest check-in activity that we have seen since September at least, if not longer.

I think both people presenting for testing and people using QR check-in codes demonstrates that the people of South Australia appreciate the transition we have made. We have made a transition away from an elimination strategy, whereby the intention was that there would be no COVID cases in our state, to a living with COVID strategy consistent with the national road map. That can only be done safely if we maintain public health measures like testing when we have even the mildest of symptoms, QR code check-ins, public health measures and particularly masks.

I appreciate that at this stage there is a lot of frustration about masks. A lot of people find masks uncomfortable, but this government is continuing to act on health advice. In terms of the mix of measures in place, masks are a necessary measure at this stage.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Pangallo has a supplementary.