The number of active COVID-19 cases in South Australia has fallen below 30,000, with the state’s Police Commissioner declaring it’s “pretty safe to assume" the state has passed the peak of its current coronavirus wave.
3,829 new cases were reported today, along with the deaths of a man and two women all aged in their 80s.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 remains steady at 245, with 11 in intensive care.
Speaking before the release of today’s COVID-19 figures, SA Police Commissioner and State Emergency Coordinator Grant Stevens said they were tracking broadly in line with government modelling.
"But we still have some period of time when we’re stepping down from that peak that we could see changes in case numbers on a daily basis,
"The long weekend over Easter obviously saw a significant downturn in people who were turning up for testing."
On Sunday, SA Health confirmed 10,350 people received a PCR test, which is a 10 per cent in crease on the previous 24 hour period.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said he expected to see a surge in daily case numbers mid-week, as testing numbers bounced back after the long weekend.
"We would expect to pay a bit of attention to case numbers on Wednesday and Thursday, I would anticipate they will rise," he said.
'No particular stress' on hospitals
Commissioner Stevens said the hospital system appeared to be coping with the current case load.
"Over the last month there has been some effort to identify some additional beds," he said.
"I think that’s progressed quite well and the numbers have been within the modelling that we’ve been shown, so there are no particular stresses on the system at the moment that would cause us any significant concern."
Health Minister Chris Picton told ABC Radio Adelaide that the 245 patients in hospital included a number who had tested positive for the virus, but had been admitted for other reasons.
SA Health later said 46 of the patients were admitted for a health issue other than COVID-19.
"I understand that that's still under where the original modelling put us," he said.
"But that is still putting additional pressure on the system. And we are working hard to make sure that we open every additional bed at the moment."
The government is expected to review mask mandates in schools next Tuesday, at the next Emergency Management Committee meeting.
