The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Australia's has continued to decline — prompting the Premier to declare that the state may have moved "past the peak".
In the most recent reporting period, the state recorded 2,062 new cases, which is the lowest figure this year.
"The numbers keep improving for us in South Australia," Premier Steven Marshall said.
There were no further deaths, and the number of patients in ICU has dropped from 37 to 24, with six people remaining on ventilators.
"The good news is no deaths in South Australia reported over the past 24 hours and the good news keeps coming because the number of positive cases yesterday was down to the lowest it's been in a very, very long period of time," Mr Marshall said.
"The numbers in our hospitals have stabilised.
"We saw a very significant reduction in the number of people in intensive care."
The Premier said while those figures were "very positive", he added that "we can't be complacent".
He said "thousands and thousands" of vaccine bookings were "going begging", and he continued to urge eligible people to get the jab.
"We're very keen to get as many of the 12-to-15-year-olds [vaccinated] — this is an area nationally which is really lagging," he said.
"Obviously we want all students who are going back to school, term one, to make sure they are fully vaccinated."
Nurses becoming 'cannon fodder', union says
Yesterday, South Australia reported 2,193 new cases and three deaths — a woman in her 30s, a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 90s.
There have been more than 85,000 cases since the start of the pandemic and, as of yesterday, there were more than 33,000 active cases in the state.
The state's nurses' union has claimed that the heavy case load is continuing to taking its toll on staff, saying that "novice nurses" are being "thrown in the COVID deep end".
The Nursing and Midwifery Federation's SA branch said that new nursing graduates were being left in charge of wards at Port Augusta Hospital, including a dedicated COVID ward.
"They need to be properly supported to become the future workforce," branch secretary Elizabeth Dabars said.
Associate Professor Dabars said that a graduate nurse was recently rostered on by herself at the hospital's Acacia Ward, which the union believes is acting as the COVID ward.
The union has also said that the hospital has lost "34 staff to resignation in the last six months", describing the situation as "staggering".
While the Premier said he had seen no "statewide information" to suggest mass resignations were occurring, he acknowledged that a graduate nurse had been left in charge of a ward in Port Augusta.
He said a decline in overall COVID-19 case numbers would ease pressure on the system.
"In this instance a graduate nurse, under supervision, was left in charge of a ward," Mr Marshall said.
"This is not standard practice, it was not something we scheduled or rostered for.
"Unfortunately, due to sickness, it was a situation that occurred. It's certainly not something we're looking to replicate."
