South Australia Reopens After 3 Day Lockdown

South Australia Reopens After 3 Day Lockdown
Mensur Delkic of Ballaboosta Cafe in Adelaide, Australia preparing to open after being in lockdown for 4 days on Nov. 22, 2020. (Kelly Barnes/Getty Images)
AAP
By AAP
11/21/2020
Updated:
11/21/2020
South Australians are emerging from hard COVID-19 lockdown.

Stay at home orders were revoked at 12.01 a.m. on Nov 22, replaced by softer restrictions.

Residents can now attend pubs and restaurants in groups of 10, hold private gatherings of up to 50 providing there is no more than one person per four square meters, and go to beauty salons and gyms.

Schools and child care centers are set to reopen, as will non-essential businesses.

Community sport and recreation centers are still not allowed to operate. Residents are strongly encouraged to wear masks.

Police say they issued 60 fines and 103 cautions to South Australians caught breaching COVID-19 rules during last week.

They say both business and individuals caught out on Thursday and Friday “blatantly disregarded” safety directions but most people were “amazing” in doing the right thing.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said on Saturday his investigators were speaking to a pizza shop worker who lied to contact tracers about his whereabouts, sparking the lockdown.

He is believed to be a 36-year-old living in Australia on a temporary graduate visa.

“It is fair to say that had this person been more up front with us we would not have instituted a six-day lockdown,” Stevens said on Saturday.

Police also want to speak to two other people of interest as part of the investigation which is being undertaken by 20 detectives.

Premier Steven Marshall meanwhile continues to caution that SA is not yet out of the woods.

Just one new case was confirmed on Saturday, a man linked to the now 26-strong suburban Adelaide cluster at Parafield, who was already in quarantine after his partner tested positive.

All the outbreak’s known cases have been traced to close contacts.

More than 19,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted in South Australia on Friday and some 5,400 people remain in isolation.

Marshall said compensation for businesses hit by restrictions was not being contemplated.

Students can return to school on Monday but people are being encouraged to continue working from home for the next eight to 10 days if possible.

Ethan James and Hannah Ryan