Life could soon begin to return to a Covid normal in South Australia, with more restrictions set to ease next week.
Premier Steven Marshall on Friday announced that the falling number of new daily cases and active infections meant tough rules would start to relax.
He said residents could expect more restrictions to ease next week and the one after.
“We can be confident we’ll now see our numbers reduce so we can reduce our restrictions over the next eight weeks,” the Premier said.
“When we do lift those restrictions in a week and fortnight, we do want to prioritise the areas that create employment opportunities and get people back to work, like the hospitality, tourism and fitness sectors.
“We do want to get back to being able to have functions within our hospitality sector, so it’s definitely one of those areas of great consideration and we are also looking at caps on home (gatherings).”
Mr Marshall warned mask wearing would remain in place for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t think we’ll be removing our restriction for masks in indoor public places anytime soon. I know it’s annoying for many people, but it’s in many ways our best line of defence.”
It was only last Friday that restrictions eased slightly, allowing hospitality venues to trade with 50 per cent capacity – up from 25 per cent.
Mr Marshall on Tuesday also announced that elective surgery would be reintroduced in a staged way from February 7.
At the time of his announcement, the Premier did not have the exact number of new positive cases reported over the past 24 hours but said there were about 1300, a decrease from the past two days.
xjmtzywThere were also three deaths.
