South Australians woke to eased restrictions on Friday morning as the state recorded 1445 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths.
Under the new rules that relaxed at midnight last night, home gatherings have increased from 10 to 50 people while gyms can operate at one per four sqm, compared to one per seven sqm.
Hospitality venues can also now have a 75 per cent capacity and stand up drinking outdoors, but restrictions remain at 50 per cent seated consumption indoors.
Also, 50 per cent of the workforce are able return to the office as of Monday morning.
Premier Steven Marshall announced the second round of eased restrictions on Thursday.
He previously announced the Covid-19 rules were reviewed every fortnight and would relax in stages.
Mr Marshall urged resident to continue wearing masks at indoor workplaces.
“This is still a highly transmissible variant. We want to make sure we can do everything we can to ease those restrictions but not have a second wave in South Australia,” he said.
“Our hospital capacity is there. At the moment we've got fewer numbers of people taking up those hospital beds and that’s what’s given us the confidence to further reduce those restrictions down.”
Of the 1445 new cases, 1159 came from PCR test and 286 were detected in rapid antigen kits.
Currently, 210 people are in hospital with 16 in intensive care and five on ventilators.
Yesterday, there were 1639 new cases reported.
It comes as the Health Services Union (HSU) claimed personal protective equipment (PPE), including N95 masks and gowns, had been taken away from SA Dental staff.
The “furious” peak body said it was considering its options, which included escalating the matter to the Employment Tribunal.
“I’m outraged to learn that the PPE these workers had access to has been stripped away from them,” HSU Branch Secretary Billy Elrick said.
“I couldn’t think of a workplace that has more direct face-to-face contact than a dental clinic, these workers deserve the same protections afforded to other frontline workers.
“We already know of an employee of SA Dental who is currently in isolation after exposure to a positive patient through their workplace – to take away PPE while the outbreak is ongoing puts these workers at risk and is an appalling decision.”
SA Health has been contacted for comment.
