South Australia has recorded its seventh coronavirus case in the past fortnight after a patient infected with COVID-19 in Victoria returned to the state.

South Australia has recorded its seventh coronavirus case in the past fortnight after a patient infected with COVID-19 in Victoria returned to the state.
On the six-month anniversary of the state’s first virus case, chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier revealed a man in his 20s was the latest patient to contract the deadly disease.
The SA resident, in quarantine at the CBD’s Pullman Hotel, tested positive after returning from Victoria on Wednesday.
The case, the seventh in 11 days and the fourth in five days, pushes SA’s coronavirus total to 451 patients, four of whom are “active” or contagious.
Prof Spurrier said the man lived with family members who worked in Adelaide aged-care homes but they have tested negative and are now also in quarantine.
Their close contacts are also now in quarantine.
He landed on Tuesday, July 28, on flight JQ774 but all travellers on the flight considered to be at risk have been contacted.
A young paramedic who contracted COVID-19 on a Victorian mercy mission became the state’s 450th patient on Friday. She is also in quarantine at the Pullman Hotel.
Revealing the case on Saturday, Prof Spurrier, who earlier warned the virus was not “disappearing”, said the man posed no public health risk.
Aged care homes locked down
The man’s two close contacts, his mother and aunt, work across two Adelaide care homes.
They are the Ridleyton Greek Home for the Aged, Brompton, in Adelaide’s inner west and The Philip Kennedy Centre Residential Care facility at Largs Bay, in the north-western suburbs.
Saturday’s SA Health briefing occurred just 700m from the Largs Bay facility, which is operated by Southern Cross Care. The centre remains shut.
A company spokesman said SA Health notified management on Friday “that a close contact of a personal care worker who worked in two units” had tested positive.
“The Communicable Disease Control Branch at SA Health advised that due to the fact this was a ‘third-party’ contact, there was no requirement to isolate residents or other staff,” he said.
“However in the interests of protecting the health and safety of our vulnerable residents, we made the decision to immediately activate our ‘outbreak response plan”.
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SA Chief Public Health Officer Dr Nicola Spurrier speaks to the media. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz
He said this included locking down the facility, isolating affected residents in their rooms where regular symptom checking was conducted and immediately quarantining staff who had been in contact with the possibly infectious colleagues.
He said its emergency response team of specially-trained care staff were engaged while full personal protective equipment was enforced as was special cleaning, laundry management and food services protocols.
“We are very pleased to report that this morning (we) received confirmation that the staff member who had been tested for COVID-19 has returned a negative test result,” he said.
He said the centre would likely reopen on Sunday.
The Ridleyton Greek Home also locked down relevant areas. A spokesman was unavailable.
The Advertiser last week revealed how the state’s 284 aged-care homes face a new health crackdown as authorities move to protect vulnerable residents from a coronavirus second wave, which has ravaged the sector in Victoria.
The new COVID-19 restrictions, set to be ratified within days, will ban carers from working at multiple nursing homes, place potentially contagious patients in compulsory isolation and increase infection control training.
The measures, which also include immediately admitting to hospital a resident who tests positive for the virus, come as the State Government investigates “hardship” payments for any sick carer unable to work.
The only SA case linked to the aged-care industry was a female carer working at St Louis Nursing Home, at Parkside, who contracted the virus in March while playing social basketball.
Testing capacity expanded
The details emerged as SA Health revealed expanding checking capacity using decommissioned ambulances converted into a testing van.
The expansion comes as vital contact tracing of future coronavirus patients will also be widened to stop possible community transmission as SA Health considers removing “barriers” to testing clinics.
The Advertiser on Saturday revealed officials are now testing ”upstream” when a patient contracts COVID-19 to identify a possible infection source, along with “downstream” to prevent it spreading to other contacts.
Prof Spurrier said broadening helped officials identify, and stop, community transmission.
She said SA Pathology was close to launching a testing booking system at drive-through clinics instead of patients needing a GP referral. “It is because … we don’t want a whole lot of traffic congestion,” she said.
Officials are also monitoring self-collection and saliva testing in Victoria.
Queensland travel warning
Meanwhile, South Australians were warned to reconsider Queensland travel amid a possible border crackdown and a young paramedic contracted COVID-19 on a Victorian mercy mission.
Friday’s case, the seventh in the past 10 days emerged hours after the Transition Committee raised “concerns” about Queensland’s issues.
Police Commissioner and the state’s COVID-19 co-ordinator Grant Stevens revealed stricter border controls with the Sunshine State were being considered as he warned wider restrictions are likely to stay until at least Christmas.
The new clampdown, which could have major implications on the AFL season, came after a Brisbane man, 27, on Friday became its first community transmission patient in two months.
The case, in which an infection source is a mystery, is linked to three women charged with lying about visiting Melbourne before they “ran riot” in Queensland.
Mr Stevens said the committee had “quite a big discussion” about implications the group’s actions had on SA.
“It would be my advice to anybody who is planning to travel to Queensland, they reconsider their need to travel, unless they can accommodate a 14-day quarantine period,” he told The Advertiser.
“We just can’t afford to take the risk of someone moving through the Queensland community, contracting the virus and then coming back without any restrictions into South Australia.
“We are now talking about, do we have to impose some of those restrictions for border movements that we were able to lift? That’s disappointing.”
SA paramedic positive after volunteer work in Victoria
The state’s medical community has “thrown its arms around” the female paramedic, aged in her 20s. She was in a stable condition with mild symptoms in quarantine at the Pullman Hotel, Hindmarsh Square, on Friday night.
She was among 21 paramedics who volunteered to fight Victoria’s escalating crisis. Her roles included swabbing residents in Melbourne’s locked-down high-rise towers. She tested positive on return to Adelaide Airport on Wednesday night before she and her colleagues were immediately placed in isolation.
Authorities don’t consider her a community threat and praised her actions to minimise risk, including wearing a face mask on the flight home.
Her colleagues have returned negative results.
“We are wrapping the SAAS family arms around our paramedic,” said her boss, SA Ambulance Service chief executive David Place.
“She is very humbled by the Premier (Steven Marshall) and Health Minister (Stephen Wade) calling her; she’s in good spirits. She has a smile on her face,” he said.
Prof Spurrier said she had a close contact on the flight.
“We have no concerns about any (other) close contacts,” she said. “It is part of the risk of this sort of work.”
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A Malaysian Airlines flight from New Delhi is due to land in Adelaide on Saturday with 170 passengers who will enter hotel quarantine. Prof Spurrier said it was likely to include infectious passengers.
On Friday 11 nurses flew to Melbourne to help fight Victoria’s surging aged care home cases. Up to 50 nurses are expected to serve in fortnight rotations in coming weeks. A paramedic remains there in a leadership role.
Mr Stevens said a COVID life was likely for months.
“I don’t see much changing between now and Christmas in terms of how we behave in the community,” he said.
“Living in an environment where we should expect that we may have restrictions imposed on us. Uncertainty around the ability to travel.
“All of these things that we’re grappling with, I think are still going to be in front of mind for the next few months.
“And beyond that (we) take a glass half-full perspective and hope there’s a fresh start to 2021 and we will see what that looks like.”