South Australia’s COVID-19 cluster has grown, with two new cases — a woman in her 80s and a man in his 40s — reported overnight.
Key points:
- There are now 21 COVID-19 cases in the Modbury cluster
- Businesses have started receiving grants
- Aberfoyle Park businesses earlier named as exposure sites have been removed from the list
But two exposure sites, including a supermarket at Aberfoyle Park in Adelaide’s south, have since been removed from the list, after SA Health admitted they had been added in error.
Health authorities said both new coronavirus cases were in quarantine throughout their infectious period and there was no risk posed to the community.
Both are part of the Modbury cluster, which now stands at 21 cases.
SA Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the new cases were both linked to the Tenafeate Creek Wines exposure site, and were related to known cases.
“We do have a woman in her 80s and it’s the wife of one of our cases already in Tom’s Court and she has tested positive unfortunately,” she said.
The other case — the man in his 40s — is the father of a brother and sister who tested positive who attended the winery.
“We had two cases who were related last week, it was on Thursday last week, and at that time the parents of those cases were shifted into one of our medi-hotels, whilst the cases themselves went to Tom’s Court,” Professor Spurrier said.
“That person has tested positive late yesterday evening, he will also be shifted into our Tom’s Court facility.”
A supermarket and a discount store were incorrectly added to the list of exposure sites connected with South Australia’s Modbury COVID-19 cluster last night.
SA Health added Coles and Getta Bargain at the Aberfoyle Hub Shopping Centre at Aberfoyle Park as tier 3 exposure sites.
But Professor Spurrier later revealed that, while no-one had been required to quarantine as a result of that update, those sites had been added in error.
“They need to be removed and that was an error and I do apologise for that,” she said.
She said a person who had attended a known exposure site — The Greek on Halifax restaurant — had been in Aberfoyle Park the same day, but before they attended the restaurant.
“What actually happened with this one was that it was somebody who had been to The Greek on Halifax and they’d actually been at Aberfoyle Park that morning,” she said.
“They obviously cannot be infectious [at] that time because they weren’t even exposed.”
Other changes were made to the exposure site list, after CCTV footage of the Burnside Shopping Centre was reviewed.
SA Health named Zara, Angelakis Brothers, Baker’s Delight, Dumpling Lab and the Village Baker as stores a positive case visited in Burnside Village on July 18, making them tier 1 sites.
The shopping centre as a whole has been downgraded from tier 1 to tier 2.
“Initially that was all classified as tier 1 because the case had spent quite a period of time in that shopping centre and gone from one end of it to the other,” Professor Spurrier said.
“Over the last few days a lot of work’s been done and there have been some areas of that – mind you, only certain areas – that have been downgraded to a tier 2.
“If you have been at a tier 1 that has been downgraded to a tier 2, it means that your household may be able to leave quarantine but only if – and this is a big if – you and the household can separate and you’ve tested negative.”
Professor Spurrier said she had been in a meeting this morning to discuss SA residents stranded in NSW, “some of whom went over there for the school holidays and some of whom need to come back here for compassionate reasons”.
“We’re looking at all options to get those people back into South Australia. Obviously we don’t have enough hotel capacity for all of those people, and some of those people will need to quarantine at home,” she said.
Small and medium-sized businesses across the state have begun receiving emergency cash grants as part of the state government’s new business support package.
Businesses who emply staff are eligible for a $3,000 payment and sole traders can receive $1,000.
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