South Australian police have revealed almost $65,000 in fines were handed out over just two days of Adelaide’s short-lived COVID-19 lockdown.
Premier Steven Marshall announced on Friday the state’s six-day “circuit breaker” shutdown would be cut to just three after it was revealed the decision to impose the tough restrictions was based on a lie.
But that revelation did not mean South Australians were off the hook.
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SA Police says 103 cautions were issued on Thursday and Friday for breaches of the state’s ‘Stay at Home’ directions.
A further 60 $1,080 fines were handed out to individuals and businesses caught doing the wrong thing.
Police say while that number may seem significant, the majority of South Australians abided by the rules.
“Police would like to remind the public that the expiations (fines in particular) were issued to people who have blatantly disregarded the requirements of the directions,” SA Police said in a statement.
Despite the lockdown being revealed as a contact tracing blunder, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens says those who broke the rules won’t be off the hook.
“They had a chance to do the right thing like everybody else ... and they chose not to,” he said.
The restrictions under which the fines were issued will end at midnight Saturday after a bombshell turn of events eased COVID-19 fears.
It has been revealed a medi-hotel worker “blatantly lied” about his link to a pizza bar in Adelaide’s western suburbs.
As a result, what was feared to be a case of community transmission is actually now considered a close contact.
The state’s brutal lockdown will end as of midnight Saturday, allowing the return of gyms, pubs, restaurants and retail.
Also effective immediately: South Australians may head outdoors to exercise with members of their household.
Cluster concerns
One new case was linked to the Parafield cluster on Saturday, a close contact of a known infection.
Twenty-six cases are now connected to the northern suburbs outbreak, with 37 active cases in South Australia.
Premier Steven Marshall says that case came from a record 19,000 coronavirus tests.
He says there are also, now, no examples of community transmission from the cases identified thus far out of the cluster.
But the premier says South Australia is not out of the woods yet.
Health authorities remain extremely concerned about the cluster and need to find and isolate a whole new group of possible contacts.
SA Health will be throwing significant resources into contact tracing the Woodville Pizza Bar case as it is forced to “start from scratch”
About 40 close contacts of people infected with COVID-19 have not responded to SA Health’s attempts to contact them.
They are linked to Roma Mitchell College, Anglicare’s Brompton aged care facility and a number of other high-risk exposure sites.