Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said modelling by the University of Adelaide showed the state’s third COVID-19 wave was likely to hit its caseload peak on July 19, but that date was subject to change.

She said authorities were still uncertain about how high the peak would be, but previous modelling showed it could reach around 5000 cases.

South Australia today reported 4408 new cases – an increase of 740 from yesterday.

Two people have died after testing COVID-positive over the past 24 hours, including a woman in her 60s and a man in his 90s.

The rise in infections is promoted by the emergence of the new Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which have the same severity as the previous BA.1 and BA.2 mutations of the virus but are considered more infectious and better able to evade immunity from vaccines.

Latest genome sequencing, conducted last week, shows just under 55 per cent of test samples were BA.4 and BA.5 – up from 24 per cent the week before.

“We’ve seen a doubling,” Spurrier told reporters this morning.

“It’s up to us to try and reduce the height of that curve.”

Spurrier said South Australia could reduce the transmission potential by 10 per cent if mask-wearing inside public venues increased, but she reiterated that she was not advising the government to impose a mandate, as to do so would require another state emergency declaration.

“I don’t think we’re at that stage at the moment but, of course, we’ve continued to monitor the situation,” she said.

“We’re starting to see many more people wearing masks (and) we’ll do what we can in terms of getting that message out.”

Of most concern to authorities is the predicted rise in the number of people who will need to be treated in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.

The University of Adelaide modelling predicts about 150 people would be hospitalised for COVID during the peak.

We simply don’t have sufficient preparation in place

Currently, there are 245 people with COVID in hospital, but this includes people in hospital for other reasons who incidentally have the virus.

Last night, every Adelaide hospital emergency department was operating above capacity at the highest level “code white”, meaning that all treatment rooms were being used.

At 6pm, there were 135 patients waiting to be seen, with 309 having commenced treatment.

The worst average wait time was at Lyell McEwin Hospital, at 163 minutes, followed by Flinders Medical Centre at 136 minutes and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 109 minutes.

SA Health’s emergency department dashboard

Health Minister Chris Picton said the government had “opened up every possible bed that we can find”, with SA Health “working overtime in terms of contingency planning”.

He said since Labor came to power, the government had opened an additional 210 beds across the hospital system, with 28 private hospital beds purchased over the past fortnight.

Asked whether people would end up being turned away from hospitals at the height of the COVID-19 wave, given the hospital system is already operating above capacity before cases peak, Picton said the government would consider delaying elective surgery.

“We can use private hospitals or peri-urban hospitals for some of that surgery, or we can book some of that in after that COVID wave… that can help us in terms of freeing up some additional beds for COVID patients in the short-term,” he said.

“We are in a situation where we simply don’t have sufficient preparation in place over the past year and we’re playing catch-up because of it.”

SA calls on Commonwealth to extend free RAT program

Health Minister Chris Picton. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Meanwhile, Picton said the SA government was urging its federal counterpart to extend a program which provides 10 free rapid antigen tests (RATs) every three months for concessions card holders.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler yesterday revealed the program would stop at the end of July – a decision which has drawn criticism from pharmacists and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Butler said July was “about the right time” to end the program, as the price of tests had come down.

But Picton said the SA government “would certainly like to see that support continue” and would be “putting that forward to the federal government”.

“If you have a concession card you may want to go and pick them up before that scheme ends to make sure that you’ve got them in the cupboard if you need them down the track,” he said.

The state government continues to offer free rapid antigen tests for close contacts of positive cases at designated collection sites, including in the south-western park lands.

Australian Medical Association vice-president Dr Chris Moy told The New Daily that rapid antigen tests are only about 60 per cent accurate and false negatives were now risking inadvertently spreading the virus.

The South Australian doctor said as COVID variants become more transmissible, the efficacy of rapid antigen tests had dropped off.

Spurrier said rapid antigen tests were a useful surveillance tool, but people should seek a PCR test if they have COVID symptoms, even if they return a negative RAT.

“If you happen to have no symptoms and you’re tested on a RAT, that’s okay if you’re doing it as part of the surveillance program and you’re doing it every second or third day,” she said.

“It’s really very dependent on what you’re using the RAT for and how its interpreted.”

New vaccination clinic opens in park lands

The new pop-up vaccination clinic in the western park lands. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

SA Health this morning opened a new pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic in the western park lands in response to the federal government extending eligibility for a fourth dose.

The walk-in clinic, off Sir Donald Bradman Drive at Ellis Park/Tampawardli (Park 24), is open from 8.30am to 5pm every day and offers the Pfizer vaccine to anyone over the age of five – including the fourth dose for people aged over 30.

Bookings are not required, with the clinic expected to stay open for one month.

State government data shows more than 6600 South Australians received their fourth dose on Monday – the first day people aged over 30 became eligible.

Pharmacies delivered the majority – 3757 – of those doses, while GPs administered 1258 fourth vaccines.

South Australia’s largest COVID-19 vaccination hub at the Adelaide Showgrounds at Wayville will close tomorrow at 2pm.

A new Myer Centre clinic at Rundle Mall will reopen on Friday.

Picton said the western park lands and Myer Centre clinics would have greater capacity combined than the Wayville vaccination hub.