South Australia will be closed from 6 p.m. tonight, after health officials confirmed the state’s outbreak is the Delta strain.

They have so far identified five cases linked to the current cluster.

The confinement will last for seven days.

The fifth case was identified at a restaurant that visited The Greek on Halifax restaurant on Saturday night along with a contact of the original case – a man who returned from Argentina earlier this month.

“We hate to put these restrictions in place, but we think we have a chance to get it right,” Marshall said.

A fourth case was announced earlier this morning, but Mr Marshall said the fifth case – not in the original family – was “much more worrying”.

“We have no choice but to impose fairly heavy and immediate restrictions on entry – at 6:00 pm this evening South Australia goes into lockdown,” the prime minister said.

From 6:00 p.m. on, the only reasons to leave home will be to look after someone, for essential work, to purchase essential goods such as food, exercise with people from the same household and children. healthcare – including COVID testing and vaccination.

Exercise should be done within 2.5 kilometers of home and only for 90 minutes per day.

Business support is expected to be announced tomorrow.

Schools will be closed from tomorrow with a 24-hour transition period in place for teachers to organize home learning.

Elective surgery is suspended and construction will not be allowed.

People will have to stay in the house they have chosen to go before 6:00 p.m.

Worry about party cases

Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the fifth case was a man in his 60s who visited the Greek in Halifax on Saturday night.

She said the man attended a “celebratory function,” possibly a birthday party, at the restaurant in a private reception hall with another case.

She said the area was not well ventilated and there may have been loud chants and words that could easily spread the virus.

Around 3,000 people are now in home quarantine, including people who had visited Victorian exhibition sites.

QR records have exceeded 2 million every day since Thursday, with the exception of Sunday, which is generally lower.

A temporary COVID testing site has opened at the Waterworld Aquatic Center in Ridgehaven.

SA Pathology Clinical Services Director Tom Dodd thanked people for their patience during the extended wait times for testing and said more staff have been put in place as of today.

Turnaround times were around 12 to 2 hours, he said, despite a record number of samples.

Professor Spurrier said the original case could have been contracted at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, where the old man spent part of his time in quarantine, or in his Sydney Airport taxi or in his flight to Adelaide.

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