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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-01 Daily Xml
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Coronavirus

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:12): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Will the minister update the council on the government's innovative response to COVID-19?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:12): I would like to thank the honourable member for his question. Here in South Australia we have thankfully avoided some of the tragic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that have been seen elsewhere in the world. This has been primarily due to the combination of world-class expert public health advice and a high degree of cooperation from the South Australian community with that advice. But we have also benefited from South Australia's innovative spirit. South Australians have shown an unmatched agility in responding to the pandemic.

We saw this first in February when SA Pathology moved to include testing the COVID-19 in the suite of tests performed on respiratory samples in South Australia. This gave us early valuable data on the prevalence of COVID in the community more broadly than can be obtained from dedicated COVID-19 clinics alone.

Building on this early step, on 11 March the government opened Australia's first drive-through COVID testing clinic. I understand it was only the second such drive-through clinic in the world. That clinic is located at the reactivated Repat site. The collection centre has continued to provide a convenient, accessible and low-risk option for receiving a COVID-19 test, which supports the GP-led clinics and the dedicated hospital-based clinics and further serves to alleviate pressure on our hospitals.

To date, I am advised, that 11,200 samples have been taken at the clinic, which is nearly 10 per cent of the total tests in South Australia. This success in the testing regime was also shown in the rapid upscaling of our testing capability, which meant that by 12 May South Australia became the first Australian state to test over 4 per cent of the population.

This was supported by another innovation: a team of domiciliary nurses that SA Pathology formed to go into residences and take swabs for testing, making it easier for vulnerable South Australians in particular to get tested for COVID-19. Further supporting the vulnerable members of the community and so broadening our testing regime, SA Pathology opened three collection centres dedicated to the collection of samples from immunocompromised patients. Not only did this make the collection safer for these patients, but it helped them to spend less time at hospitals and more time with their families and loved ones.

These innovations in the collection of samples and testing were matched by innovation at the other end of the process with an SMS service set up to notify patients quickly and directly of their COVID-19 test results. South Australia's success in dealing with our pandemic so far is an achievement that all South Australians can be proud of, but more importantly it should be strong motivation for us to redouble our effort to fight the pandemic.

We have a significant community outbreak underway in Victoria. We must act now to protect our public health. We must back the advice of our public health team by maintaining our physical distancing at 1.5 metres or more, keeping up our personal hygiene and, in particular, making sure that we get tested if we have any symptoms. I would like to thank our hardworking front-line health workers and the dedicated team at SA Health who have helped South Australia flatten the curve and with their innovation and their responsiveness helped us to deal with the first wave.

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