SA records 3023 new Covid cases

There are 298 people now in hospital, with 33 in intensive care and 7 on a ventilator.

New interim modelling revealed the state hit the peak of the Omicron wave and does not show a significant spike in daily cases once school resumes in mid-February.

Businesses were encouraged to allow one quarter of their staff to return to the office from January 27 by Premier Steven Marshall.

As the Omicron wave hit the state, residents were told to work from home where possible to limit the spread of the virus.

“We cannot become complacent, we have plenty of capacity in our hospitals but we still have students to return to schools,” Mr Marshall said.

It comes as the state recorded its deadliest day with 11 Covid related deaths on Thursday as well as 3777 new cases.

But Mr Marshall said it did not necessarily mean all 11 people had died in one day because there were no urgent reporting requirements from residential aged care facilities to SA Health.

“Nevertheless, its very sad news today and we express our sincere condolences,” he said.

Ahead of today’s press conference, the premier revealed SA schools wouldn‘t test its students twice-weekly despite the federal government agreeing to foot half the bill.

“The very strong advice from the chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly and the AHPPC is that surveillance testing is sub-optimal,” he said.

“It is going to give a lot of false negatives, which in many ways is going to give people a false sense of security they don’t have the disease.”

Originally published as SA records 3023 new Covid cases, six deaths