COVID-19 Statistics

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding COVID. Can the minister explain exactly why South Australia has the highest number of deaths per COVID infection in Australia, more than five times the rate in the Northern Territory, around four times higher than Tasmania and almost triple the rate in the ACT? What message does the minister have for those 131 families who have experienced the tragedy of death from COVID this year?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:31): I don't know the data that the honourable member refers to. I am not aware of any official data that compares deaths with cases, but I think one of the things that—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Excuse me, I would just like to answer your question.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, continue.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: One of the factors that has been quite confounding, if you like, during the Omicron wave has been to make sure that we are making legitimate comparisons. For example, there was a suggestion, I think, coming out of Queensland that they had done a survey of testing in the community and found that I think it was in the order of 20 per cent of people who were identified in the survey as having been COVID positive were not aware that they had been COVID positive.

The case numbers can be significantly different on the basis of what I understand is the technical expression 'case ascertainment'. In other words, if you don't have an accessible testing regime you won't pick up as many cases—accessible in terms of lines and the like—but also if you have very high levels of community transmission, as you found in some of the Eastern States, many people just don't get tested. Many people say, 'Well, my partner's had COVID and I have very similar symptoms. I am assuming I have COVID. I will isolate, but I am not going to go and get tested.'

So it is very difficult to compare statistics from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If the honourable member has an official source for that data, I would certainly be keen to look into it. I am sure that one of the factors in relation to any death statistics in relation to South Australia is the fact that we have the oldest community on mainland Australia in terms of the state. I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that Hindmarsh might actually be the oldest community in the whole of Australia.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Mainland Australia.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Mainland Australia. Certainly, age and—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —chronic disease and the like will feed in to those sorts of figures, but also in the COVID environment we have the dynamic nature of the comparators.