South Australia to ease restrictions on cross-border communities

South Australian premier Steven Marshall said the current hard border restrictions would ease if there were no cases of community transmission recorded in local government areas in the 'buffer zone' before midnight Thursday.

On Friday, a hard lockdown came into effect that left cross-border residents stranded from their jobs, medical clinics and a host of other essential services that they used to access across the SA border.

Mr Marshall said detailed data given to him by the Victorian government gave him the "confidence" to re-introduce the 40km buffer zone.

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There are currently three active coronavirus cases in local government areas neighbouring the South Australian border, with two in the Glenelg Shire and one in Mildura.

"As of Friday, school students will be able to return to school in South Australia. Businesses will be able to resume, exactly and precisely as they were," Mr Marshall.

South Australian Chief Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the easing of restrictions was pushed back to Thursday to to allow a full 14-day incubation period since the last active case was reported in the Glenelg Shire, in Victoria's south-west.

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"What I've been able to get now is detailed information about the source of the cases in the Glenelg shire in particular, but also the other local government areas on the border," she said.

"The other thing I have flagged to people in South Australia is it's not just the numbers or where they're from. It's the chains of transmission and also to do with how much testing is being done.

"Because if you don't test a large number of people in that population, you can't be sure that you're capturing everybody that might have symptoms or might be positive for COVID-19.

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SAPOL commissioner Grant Stevens said cross-border community members would have to adhere to the same restrictions imposed when the buffer zone was first introduced.

These included applying for specific exemptions and getting tested for COVID-19 every seven days.

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