The South Australian police force will abandon its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for officers from Monday, as the state records 2,047 new cases and two COVID-related deaths.
The deaths are a woman in her 60s and a man in his 80s.
There are 106 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including nine in intensive care and one person is on a ventilator.
There are 18,363 active COVID cases in SA.
The vaccine mandate for police officers will end a week before a Supreme Court challenge of the mandates is due to be heard.
About 60 officers and around 18 public servants who had declined the vaccine have been on enforced leave due to the mandate, which had been imposed by the state's Police Commissioner Grant Stevens using his emergency management powers.
Mandates also exist for employees in other sectors such as health, aged and disability care, schools, childcare, forensic science and taxi and rideshare services.
Several police officers have joined education and healthcare workers, including nurse and former AFLW Adelaide Crows Player Deni Varnhagen, in challenging the mandates in court.
A three-day trial is scheduled for the week beginning March 14, the same week South Australians go the polls.
The formal legal direction for police officers to be vaccinated will be replaced with a managerial direction.
It will require officers who have not received two doses of an approved vaccine to undertake a rapid antigen test at the start of their shift, and wear a properly fitted respirator-style mask for the duration of their shift.
Mr Stevens said more than 98.5 per cent of the South Australian police force was vaccinated.
"Whilst the managerial direction enables unvaccinated employees to return to their substantive duties, there will be some limitations regarding their ability to attend some settings such as residential aged care facilities, disability facilities and the forensic science building,” he said.
Commissioner Stevens also announced a change to vaccination requirements for workers in healthcare settings, to allow unvaccinated people to work "on a single occasion or on an infrequent and irregular basis".
Instead, they will need to produce a negative rapid antigen test either the day of or 24 hours prior to going to work, and wear appropriate PPE.
The change in rules allows unvaccinated officers to call outs at emergency departments, something Mr Stevens said was a "frequent activity for police officers".
Mr Stevens also said the rules would affect businesses such as florists or food delivery, who attend hospitals for one-off visits.
However, unvaccinated officers will not be allowed into South Australian venues with vaccine mandates such as Adelaide Oval.
"All of those particular circumstances will be managed by their frontline supervisors," Mr Stevens said.
Mr Stevens stopped short of indicating whether the other mandates would soon be lifted but on Wednesday indicated that his powers under the Emergency Management Act could be relinquished in a month, a move which would spell the end for all the formal vaccine mandates.
More children getting COVID-19 and complications
Today's case numbers have fallen from the 2,307 cases and five deaths reported yesterday.
Since February 7, the largest number of cases have been in children under 10 years of age, followed by people aged 10 to 19, according to SA Health figures.
Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Emily Kirkpatrick said it was "not surprising" with school returning.
"We will continue to see an increase in these cases — it's not unexpected — and what we have to keep in mind with this is that we just continue to track our hospital admission rates and we also continue to track the age groups who are affected with COVID-19 as much as we possibly can," she said.
"If you're not vaccinated, now is certainly the time to remember to go and get the booster dose to try and reduce the number of cases we're going to be seeing."
The latest data from the Department for Education shows 2.2 per cent of public school students have COVID or are close contacts, while 452 teachers and other support staff are absent for COVID reasons such as isolation, infection or caring for someone who has tested positive.
SA Health warned on Wednesday that two cases of paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS-TS) — a COVID-associated condition — had been identified in the state.
The syndrome is very rare, affecting less than 1 per cent of children who have had COVID, but can be life-threatening.
Dr Kirkpatrick said this morning there were now four cases of concern.
"This is really a timely reminder for the community now that there can be very rare complications that can occur post-COVID but to please be on the outlook and seek that medical attention and help," she said.
Symptoms include abdominal pain, headache, fever and feeling unwell, occurring two to six weeks after an infection.
With universities returning this week and the Adelaide Fringe starting on February 18, Dr Kirkpatrick said the number of cases among people in their 20s was expected to grow.
However, she said the increase in cases among children and young people was not being reflected in hospital admission rates.
Outbreak on remote Aboriginal lands
Meanwhile, a COVID-19 outbreak on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands has grown to 84 active cases.
APY Lands general manager Richard King said there were about 250 people in isolation who needed food and groceries delivered across the area.
He said all of their services were stretched and additional funding or support would be welcome.
"Our staff are really tired and the additional supports would help, but what we really, really need is more compliance and less political correctness around people not doing the right thing," he said.
He said there was a problem with overcrowded housing and not everyone complying with restrictions, which was causing numbers to grow.
"Like everywhere, we have a number of people who are very compliant and do the right thing, but there are always a couple who like to go and visit people in the night when it's dark and that's what's happening, unfortunately," he said.
"While we feel like we're making progress, there are more infections being spread by people moving around the community and visiting friends and family.
