The South Australian State Government has announced changes to the COVID-19 limit to align the state with other countries.
All changes made behind the first Emergency Management Council meeting on Friday under the new government were made by Saturday morning and revolved primarily around close contact.
Previous directives required close contact with COVID-19-positive families living in the same home for 14 days, but are now shortened to 7 days, with a negative rapid antigen or PCR test. It has become.
In addition, people infected with COVID-19 are no longer considered to be in close contact for 12 weeks after infection, as opposed to the previous 8 weeks.
The third change revolves around who is considered to be in close contact, depending on how long they have interacted with COVID-19-positive people outside the home.
In previous SAs, non-infected individuals were considered intimate contact if they interacted with COVID-19-positive individuals for more than 15 minutes during the period of infection. The dialogue time has now been extended to a minimum of 4 hours.
Professor Nicola Spurrier, SA’s Chief Public Health Director, revealed that even if someone in the same household tests positive, members of the same household are considered to be closely related.
“But otherwise, four hours face-to-face without a mask means that if someone has been exposed during the infection period, that definition is met.” She said.
Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas said these were major changes aimed at aligning SA with the rest of Australia.
“It will make it much easier for South Australians to continue their lives in a safe and appropriate way,” he said.
Marinauskas also announced that the government will remove SA’s general mask obligations by April 14, unless there are major changes in the situation, such as new varieties.
“Although it is still needed in certain high-risk environments, such as the elderly care environment, we look forward to the successful removal of everything by April 14 due to the general mask obligations that apply throughout the state. “He said.
“It’s the day before Easter, the day before Good Friday, and it’s not too far away.”
Meanwhile, the SA Police Secretary has called for an additional 28 days to extend the Emergency Management Declaration, and Marinauskas has confirmed that the move will be approved by the Cabinet.
“But we are fully committed and well on track to fulfill my commitment earlier this week that the emergency management declaration process will be completed by June 30th.” Said Marinauskas.
“Once again, it is subject to major changes in the situation, new variants, and the necessary qualifications for what you have.”
Currently, about 29,800 COVID-19 people are active in South Australia, and 158 are infected with the virus.
Professor Spurrier said that the number of hospitalizations includes people who were hospitalized with COVID-19, as well as accidental cases such as when someone had a broken leg and went to the hospital and was found to be infected with the virus. I pointed out that.
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Steve is a Sydney-based Australian reporter with sports, arts and politics. He is an experienced English teacher, a qualified nutritionist, a sports enthusiast, and an amateur musician. Contact him at [email protected]