Advertisement

SA records 4474 new COVID cases, three deaths

South Australia has recorded 4474 new COVID-19 infections – the highest daily caseload in two months – and another three deaths, just days after authorities relaxed restrictions including density caps ahead of the long weekend.

Mar 17, 2022, updated Mar 18, 2022
Queues at the Victoria Park testing site earlier this year. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Queues at the Victoria Park testing site earlier this year. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

In a statement issued a short time ago, SA Health said two women aged in their 80s and a man in his 40s died after testing positive for COVID-19.

Hospitalisations dropped slightly to 132, with eight of those in intensive care and three on a ventilator.

Of those hospitalised, 80 people were fully-vaccinated, 47 were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and five had an unknown vaccination status.

There are currently 19,541 active COVID-19 cases in the state, bringing the total number of infections in South Australia since the start of the pandemic to 191,573.

COVID-19 cases spiked this week following the long weekend, the return of dancing and singing, and the removal of all hospitality and home gathering density limits.

The state’s COVID-Ready committee made no changes to restrictions when it met on Tuesday, with state emergency coordinator Grant Stevens citing a wish to monitor hospitalisation numbers in the wake of relaxed rules during a busy weekend of festivals.

It comes as SA Health this afternoon reported one to two-hour queues at the Victoria Park, Repat, Port Adelaide and Bedford Park testing sites.

SA Pathology testing sites waiting times at 10am:
Elizabeth South <1hr
Walkley Heights <1hr
Hampstead 1-1.5hrs
Port Adel 1-2hrs
Repat 1-2hrs
Vic Park 1-2hrs
Bedford Park 1-2hrs
RAH 1-1.5hrs
Aldinga <1hr
Mt Gambier <1hr
Bordertown <1hr pic.twitter.com/K11d1hyZef

— SA Health (@SAHealth) March 17, 2022

Yesterday, 15,171 people received a PCR test in South Australia – nearly a 50 per cent increase from Tuesday’s figure.

Premier Steven Marshall told reporters this morning that there had been a “large number of people lining up yesterday to get the PCR test” and queues were an indicator of a high number of cases.

“I think we’re sitting at around about 3000 to 4000 (cases) at the moment for the coming days, but of course, the good news is we still have massive capacity left in our hospital system,” he said.

“We created the equivalent of 393 additional beds – we’re nowhere near that.

“Lifting those restrictions is driving more and more people back to work.

“We had a massive surge in February, we’re going to have a further massive surge of people back in full-time employment in March.”

Asked if the Fringe and WOMADelaide festivals were behind the spike in COVID-19 cases, Marshall said: “we’re seeing an increase right around the country at the moment with the new Omicron variant”.

“We saw a big surge yesterday in New South Wales, today we had the highest number in Victoria since February.

“The good news is it’s not translating into more people going into hospital,” he said.

Leading University of South Australia epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman told InDaily last week that the BA.2 Omicron subvariant would likely lead to a doubling of the state’s daily cases.

The BA.2 subvariant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in Denmark and South Africa over the last month, with initial studies indicating it could spread between 25 to 33 per cent faster than the BA.1 strain of Omicron.

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.