Australian state announces six-day 'circuit-breaker' lockdown after cluster erupts
South Australia has imposed a strict six-day 'circuit-breaker' lockdown for its nearly two million people in response to a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
While the rest of the country appears to have the coronavirus under control, with Melbourne having gone more than two weeks with no new cases after enduring a severe second wave and long lockdown, at least 20 confirmed and 14 suspected cases have been linked to a cluster in Adelaide.
South Australia’s chief health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier revealed on Wednesday that “a security guard at the [quarantine] hotel …worked part-time making pizza” at Woodville Pizza Bar, believed to be the epicentre of the second wave.
This revelation caused some to question why casual quarantine guards were used after they were identified as a major factor behind Melbourne’s second wave.
“Insecure work is driving the pandemic. If we're serious about controlling this virus, this means we must fix in the insecure work crisis,” the Australian Council of Trade Unions said in a statement.
Adelaide resident Nick Schadegg told The Telegraph he was “totally happy with locking down hard and early now”.
“We all want to have a ‘normal’ Christmas and how we act now will decide whether or not this will be the case. I had a holiday to Kangaroo Island booked next week but I’m happy to cancel and go another time,” he said.
“It seems like the South Australian government have been contract tracing as much as they possibly can but it’s easy for these situations to get out of hand.”
Mr Schadegg, who lives one street away from the Woodville Pizza Bar, said paying hotel quarantine staff “a decent enough wage to avoid having a second job seems like a no-brainer”.
“Covid-19 spreads through workplaces faster than any other environment, so I would have hoped there were policies in place to insulate those people from operating in other workplaces. I’m disappointed to learn that that wasn’t the case.”
Shortly after Western Australia had opened its border to interstate travellers - except those from New South Wales and Victoria - the state moved quickly to impose restrictions on South Australians as the new cases emerged. Some 150 such visitors who arrived in Perth, Western Australia, expecting to avoid quarantine were told they must isolate for two weeks.
By Tuesday afternoon this week, about 4,000 close contacts of the Adelaide cases had been ordered to self-quarantine and get tested for coronavirus, with dozens of locations across South Australia’s capital city identified as high-risk for infections.
On Wednesday, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall announced that sweeping new restrictions will be in effect as of 11.59pm Wednesday night for six days, with lower level restrictions to continue for the subsequent eight days.
The government will shut down all schools except for children of essential workers; takeaway food; universities; pubs, cafes, food courts and coffee shops; elective surgery; outdoor sport and physical activity; fly in/fly out workers; regional travel; factories, other than for food or medical products; building sites; holiday home lease or rental; weddings and funerals.
Aged care and disability care facilities are in in lockdown and wearing masks is strongly recommended, but they are not mandatory, in all areas outside the home.
“We will be looking at having more stricter conditions for wearing masks but we know it takes people a little bit of time to get a mask,"Ms Spurrier said.
"If people are watching this, I would like you to get online and have a look at other ways of having the disposable masks or cloth masks which are also very effective.”
People will be restricted from leaving their homes for the six-day period and exercise will not be permitted. One person will be allowed to leave the home to access groceries.
As at close of business on Tuesday, South Australia had recorded a total of 549 confirmed Covid-19 cases, detected by almost 600,000 tests.
