House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-03-24 Daily Xml

Contents

Coronavirus

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:19): My question is to the Premier. How many people who have COVID-19 symptoms have been turned away from testing centres due to no travel or no identified contact?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:19): I don't have those details, but we are very concerned, with a global shortage of the testing reagent, that we do stick to the protocols which SA Pathology has negotiated with SA Health. The reality is that we do have the best testing regime anywhere in the world here in South Australia, because we are doing two things: we have the direct testing of those people who fall into the narrow scope that has been defined by SA Health, SA Pathology and the Chief Public Health Officer and we also have this background testing that is being done in South Australia.

We are very concerned that we don't have a rush from the worried well, as they are often referred to—people who think that they are at a higher risk. We know, by sticking to the methodology that we have put in place, that we give ourselves the very best chance of having the best data in Australia to tackle the coronavirus.