South Australia will enter a total lockdown for the next six days as authorities look to curb a potential second wave of COVID-19.
The state government to come into effect across the state from 11.59pm on Wednesday.
“No effort is being spared to stamp out this virus in our state. We are going hard and we are going early,” Premier Steven Marshall told reporters on Wednesday.
The strict new rules will see exercise banned outside the home, masks mandatory in public, non-essential businesses shut down and only one person per household permitted to shop for groceries.
Universities, pubs, cafes and food courts will be at a standstill, and schools will be closed to everyone but vulnerable children, and children of essential workers.
Regional travel, weddings and funerals will be banned, and aged care and disability residential care will go into lockdown.
What is closing from 11:59pm on Wednesday for six days:
• All universities and schools, except for children of essential workers
• Pubs, cafes, food courts and coffee shops
• Takeaway food
• Elective surgery, except for cancer treatment and urgent operations
• Open inspections and auctions
• All outdoor sport and physical activity
• Construction industry
• All factories other than food and medical products
• Weddings and funerals will be banned
Other restrictions that will come into effect:
• Exercise will not be permitted outside of the home
• Masks must be worn in all areas outside the home
• Only one person will be allowed to leave the home to purchase groceries
• FIFO work will be stopped for six days
• Regional travel will be banned
• Aged care and disability centres will be placed into lockdown
• Holiday homes will not be available for lease or rent
What will remain open?
Supermarkets, medical centres, bottle shops, vets, petrol stations and public transport will remain open.
Essential government services, veterinary surgeries and end-of-life visits will also be permitted to operate.
Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier advised South Australians to think carefully about their movements over the next six days.
"You need to be thinking about where you are going to be for the next six days, where would be the most convenient for you, where you can look after your loved ones. Make those decisions now," she said.
"If you have grandparents that are elderly and are going to require some care, then my suggestion is you try to make some arrangements for you or somebody else to be able to provide that care."
What will happen after the six days?
Professor Spurrier explained the six-day lockdown period was a "circuit breaker", but noted some restrictions would likely remain in place for the following eight days.
"The initial period is six days. I would call it a circuit breaker. It really is extreme and then, after that, we need 14 days in total in terms of the incubation period of the virus and the number of generations," she said.
"So we will have to sit down and mathematically work it out. For a 14-day period there will be significant restrictions."
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the further eight days of restrictions following the six-day lockdown would not be as significant.
What do we know about the Parafield cluster?
Two , both of which were linked to the Parafield cluster in Adelaide's north.
There are now 22 cases directly linked to the cluster, and a further seven suspected cases.
The outbreak was sparked by a woman who worked as a cleaner in the Peppers Hotel, one of Adelaide's quarantine facilities, who may have picked up the virus from a surface, and then infected other family members.
Genetic testing has linked her case back to a traveller who returned from the United Kingdom on 2 November.
The first case was identified when an 81-year-old woman tested positive at the Lyell McEwin Hospital on Saturday.
Professor Spurrier said this particular strain of COVID-19 is breeding “very, very rapidly”, with infected people showing few symptoms.
Key areas of concerns include an Adelaide pizza bar, two northern suburbs schools, a hospital and a swimming centre with people there at particular times asked to quarantine and seek a COVID-19 test.
South Australian Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier speaks at a COVID-19 Daily update in Adelaide on 17 November. Source: AAP
Almost 40 other locations listed as places visited by confirmed cases in recent days, with people there at the same times asked to monitor for symptoms and get tested if they feel ill.
So far, more than 4,000 people are either in supervised quarantine or home isolation with that number expected to increase.
Thousands have flocked to testing stations around Adelaide, with staffing and hours to be expanded and help likely to come from interstate. The state's contract tracing resources have also been boosted.
Asked whether South Australia's lockdown was "too hard, too fast", acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly on Wednesday said the state was doing a "marvellous job".
"It is hard and fast, South Australia has made the decision on the basis of the information that they have at hand, they know their system, they know their people, that is the decision they have made and we back them in terms of that decision," he said.
With additional reporting by AAP.
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