Four women and a man have tested positive to coronavirus in South Australia, SA Health says, bringing the number of cases in the state to 37.

The new cases were announced on Wednesday afternoon.

They are:

A woman in her 50s who travelled overseas to Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines

A woman in her 20s who had close contact with a confirmed case

A man in his 50s who travelled to the USA

A woman in her 60s who travelled to the USA

A woman in her 50s who is still being interviewed

The new cases come as Premier Steven Marshall says schools in SA must remain open while flatly rejecting a rumour that the CBD was going into lockdown.

He has also warned of restrictions on people visiting aged-care facilities.

In a special press conference on coronavirus, he emphatically told parents to keep sending their children to school.

South Australian COVID-19 update 18/3/20.



For more information, contact the Coronavirus Health Information line on 1800 020 080 or go to https://t.co/mYnZsG7zGQ



For the latest travel advice please visit https://t.co/XiZP2vN7Yb pic.twitter.com/6cOiFVppta — SA Health (@SAHealth) March 18, 2020

“What happens at the end of two weeks? The kids go back to school,” he said. “The schools must remain open – and this applies to early learning centres and kindies.

The Premier said statistics showed countries that have kept schools open returned better results.

“We recognise parents have got the right to make their own decision, but they can’t just remove a child from education

“I make this point – as strongly as I can – and it’s not a political or ideological decision – this is an evidence-based decision – children should go to school and preschool and kindy in SA and around the country.”

“To not to do so increases the risk and harms our ability to tackle the coronavirus.

“It couldn’t be any clearer, the experts’ advice is unequivocal.

media_camera South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

“We are following the example of nations that have done it – Singapore is identified as one of the best-practice examples as coping with coronavirus, they have all their students at school.

“It’s important to listen to the experts or we will undermine the ability to respond to the epidemic.”

He also called the rumour that the CBD or state could be locked down was “ludicrous”.

“There is no state lockdown. There is no CBD lockdown. This is wrong. It’s unhelpful. It’s completely and utterly ludicrous.

“There is not a chance we are locking down the CBD.”

The premier said the continuing focus was on limiting the spread of the virus across the state where 32 cases had been confirmed so far.

But he said tougher restrictions on travel and gatherings in large groups were likely to remain in place for six months or more.

‘We’re not going to run out of food’

Mr Marshall also addressed the issue of panic-buying and food safety, saying SA was “not going to run out of food”.

“In fact, if there is any country in the world that can provide its own food security, it’s Australia,” he said.

“But what we’ve got to do is keep the supply chains open and access that food in an orderly fashion.

“So my strong message is to stay calm – there is plenty of food in Australia and SA.”

He urged people to avoid getting tests if they weren’t showing symptoms, saying the health system did not need “hoards” of people lining up for unnecessary tests.

“Too many ‘worried well’ people are going along and utilising the finite services that we have – we are standing up rapid-testing clinics, but this is not an opportunity for someone who thinks, ‘oh, I has a ticklish throat’ to go get a test.

“We need to reserve testing clinics for the vulnerable.”

People who are concerned should self-isolate he said.

“People have got to take this pandemic very seriously – eight out of every 10 will recover with mild symptoms – they are not our concern – it’s passing it on to vulnerable – if we can manage the spread, we will save lives.

“Look overseas, you can see where we could go if we didn’t mitigate.”

The Premier said restrictions were coming for people visiting aged care homes.

“The most vulnerable to coronavirus are aged people, those living in residential facilities – we’ve already seen three deaths in aged care,” he said.

“It’s important to get in early, put in sensible restrictions on people visiting aged care homes – and we will save lives. It’s vitally important to restrict the number of people visiting.

Fines for people ignoring isolation orders

Meanwhile, in other developments, travellers returning to South Australia face fines of up to $20,000 for ignoring strict coronavirus isolation orders.

It comes as the Prime Minister this morning told Australians not to travel overseas and banned all non-essential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people. However, the PM said the health advice was that schools should still remain open.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also advised all Australians travelling overseas to return home as soon as possible.

DFAT warned travellers that they may not be able to return home at a later stage, as more countries close their borders.

Those returning are already required to self-isolate for a fortnight.

media_camera People line up at Flinders Medical Centre to get tested for COVID-19. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

As the State Government faced a fresh $2 billion Budget hit after a GST writedown, Anzac Day marches also were cancelled, an aviation bailout has been drawn up and two new virus cases emerged in SA, amid claims official testing clinics were being “overwhelmed” and unable to cope with mounting demand.

Meanwhile, in other coronavirus developments today, South Australian seniors and pensioners have again flocked to supermarkets this morning to stock up on essentials before the stores opened to the general public.

South Australian Senator Rex Patrick wants student nurses and doctors fast-tracked to the frontline of the crisis, comparing the coronavirus pandemic to a major war. His Centre Alliance colleague Rebekha Sharkie called for COVID-19 testing centre on the South Coast as a matter of urgency.

And Opposition Transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis has raised concerns the State Government has backed away from a pledge to hand out masks to all taxi drivers and rideshare drivers at Adelaide Airport.

Mr Marshall also announced random police checks for people returning from overseas after the state’s public health chief urged any travellers to self-isolate for a fortnight upon entering SA.

Acting on new emergency powers announced at the weekend, SA Police will conduct “spot checks” on travellers, based on details provided in their incoming passenger visitor cards, to ensure they are abiding to self-isolation orders.

The declaration, under the Public Health Act 2011, to stop the spread of COVID-19 will see all Adelaide Airport overseas arrivals handed a special Australian Border Force legal direction “outlining their obligation to self-isolate at home for 14 days”, along with a special SA Health fact sheet with advice and support information.

Anyone caught flouting the quarantine orders face fines of up to $20,000.

Authorities urged people to correctly fill out the forms. Mr Marshall said the tough stance was vital.

“We simply cannot sit idle,” he said. “We are acting to minimise and slow the spread of the coronavirus here.

“All the decisions are being made based on advice by the leading health professionals in the country.”

Mr Marshall said Australia was able to learn from other countries. “We are in a better position to learn the lessons from other jurisdictions (such as China and Italy),” he said.

“Our major plan is to slow the spread of the disease.”

Treasurer Rob Lucas also revealed the independent Commonwealth Grants Commission would cost the State Budget $2 billion over the next four years – including $166 million cut to GST this year, and $689 million cut next year. This will mean no budget surplus this year or next year.

Opposition spokesman Stephen Mullighan said it was the worst possible time for an overhaul of GST distribution.

And under new government plans, domestic airlines will have about $715 million of charges and fees waived, including on aviation fuel excise and airservices charges on domestic airline operations and aviation security.

The Government will issue refunds for these charges paid since February 1, which will give the industry back about $159 million immediately.

In other developments:

ALLjunior SA football, and many other codes, have been cancelled until further notice.

A NEW drive-through coronavirus testing clinic was opened in Mount Barker – the first of three regional COVID-19 specific clinics.

ABORIGINAL people in the APY Lands were urged to stay at home and avoid large gatherings, including funerals and cultural events.

POLICE suspended roadside drink and drug-driving testing.

THERE were calls for antenatal visits to be limited to 15 minutes and retired specialists to be enlisted as backups.

FAMILIES were told to discuss end-of-life preferences with older relatives.

FORMER prime minister Julia Gillard was self-isolating in Britain after sitting on a panel with the wife of Canada’s leader Justin Trudeau but has not been tested based on medical advice.

CROSSBENCH Senator Rex Patrick was also self-isolating after serving on a committee with Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg.

PRIVATE hospitals are “ready and willing” to help alleviate the public system and tackle elective surgeries.

AT least 230,000 new face masks arrived in Australia and will be given to states, pathology clinics and GPs that take patient samples.

MORE Red Cross donors are called on to plug a blood supply shortage.

APPLICATION for SA Health voluntary redundancy packages were “paused”.

A NATIONAL chorus of more than 30 community organisations urged essential service firms, such as energy, water, finance, rental housing and telecommunications, to help customers.

AT least 12 CFS brigades across the state indefinitely cancelled weekly training sessions until further notice.

THE Opposition called for universal free flu vaccines.

FESTIVAL Groovin’ The Moo, which was due to kick off in late April at the Wayville Showgrounds, cancelled.

– with Brad Crouch, Gabriel Polychronis, Lydia Kellner, Elizabeth Henson, Sue Dunlevy and Kathy McCabe

Schools in home trials as UniSA goes online

Government schools have been told students should take their workbooks home and staff should ensure children have enough materials for “at least two weeks of learning to be continued off site”, in preparation for possible shutdowns.

And some private schools are conducting test runs, teaching students online at home.

Universities also are taking action, despite official health advice for classes to remain open. From next Monday, UniSA will join Flinders University in delivering all lectures and seminars online only.

There will be “some initial rough edges”, because it also sets 1.5m buffers between students in tutorials and study areas, said vice-chancellor David Lloyd.

The University of Adelaide said it was “taking additional precautions” in tutorials but lectures continued.

Private girls’ school Seymour College will transition to online teaching for two weeks from Monday for all but senior students. St Peter’s College, Wilderness School and Westminster School are running trials this week with students staying home.

Scotch College, where a COVID-19 case was confirmed on Monday, will remain closed today but test-run its remote-learning plan.

Education Minister John Gardner said the State Government would “present a number of contingencies regarding remote learning to schools in the coming days”.

An Education Department spokesman said: “In the last couple of years, we have linked 420 sites (out of about 513 schools) to high-speed fibre optic internet.”

SA Secondary Principals Association president Peter Mader said many schools “are very adept” at online teaching but added that “access to technology and the internet is not distributed equitably through our society, so it’s never as easy as flicking a switch”.

SA Primary Principals Association president Angela Falkenberg said affluent schools would be OK but others would struggle.

“Families may not have access to computers or have limits on data usage and might have spent all their available money stocking up on food,” she said.

Opposition Education spokeswoman Susan Close called for greater clarity.

Pressure mounts for Australia to go into immediate ‘lockdown’

One of South Australia’s most respected medicos believes Australia needs to go into lockdown immediately and people should self-isolate in a bid to thwart the spread of the coronavirus.

Dr Bill Griggs, the former head of Royal Adelaide Hospital trauma services, said it is “inevitable” that Australia will have to go into lockdown, as countries such as Italy and France have done to combat the virus.

“I think that seems to be inevitable, I had hoped it might not be but that seems to be the only way of stopping it,” he said.

“I think we need to go into lockdown right now.

“It still may not stop it, we still may end up getting it through 70 per cent of the population. Even if only one per cent of those die, that is a lot of people. The countries that have locked down wished they had done it sooner.”

Dr Griggs, who was a member of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, said people should not attend mass gatherings at all, they should self-isolate and work from home if possible to minimise risk.

“When you try and stop it as Italy is trying to do, you have to accept it is going to be a number of weeks before case numbers stop continuing to rise,” he said.

“From memory they had about 100 cases when we had 50 back in late February and they just went ballistic in two weeks.

“Here we have had a big jump in the past 24 hours.

“I think there is every chance that most of the countries on the planet are heading that way.”

media_camera Retired trauma specialist Bill Griggs suggests we need to go into lockdown right now. Picture: Sarah Reed

He said it was encouraging that China appears to have slowed the spread with social isolation and stopping the movement of people.

“That is what is quite important to us. The issue is it is reasonably contagious, you don’t know who might have got it, just because someone is a friend or a mate does not mean that may not have it,” he said.

Dr Griggs said a good example was the original SARS epidemic and how it spread across the world so rapidly.

“It spread because one doctor from China went to Hong Kong, got into a lift in a hotel and seven others in the lift took the bug around the world,” he said.

“That is as simple as it potentially can be. You don’t want that one event to happen but once there are so many of those events happening it becomes almost impossible to stop it.

“The social isolation stuff works, but people and governments are reluctant to do it because there is enormous cost, both personal and financial … but it is becoming more and more obvious that is what needs to happen.”

An open letter from Australian doctors to the Federal Government is calling for an immediate lockdown.