SA home quarantine trial expands to overseas arrivals
Ninety Australian Defence Force personnel returning from overseas will take part in an expanded trial of South Australia’s home quarantine system in a bid to ease pressure on the state’s medi-hotel system.
The State Government is currently trialling an app to monitor domestic arrivals from the eastern states who are undertaking 14-days of quarantine at home, rather than in a medi-hotel.
The app sends random location check-ins three times a day which require a live facial verification within 15 minutes of the alert being sent.
The State Government announced this morning that it is expanding the trial to monitor 90 pre-selected overseas arrivals, who will complete 14-days of home quarantine in South Australia.
The ninety overseas ADF personnel selected for the trial are coming home from “low-risk” countries and are required to be fully vaccinated.
They will also be escorted by SAPOL from their RAAF base to their home quarantine and will be required to undertake COVID tests on day three, five, seven, nine and 13 of their trial.
Deputy chief public health officer Dr Emily Kirkpatrick said following this trial, SA Health would review options to extend the program to other cohorts.
She said the app also provides support resources for trial participants.
“The app will include handy reminders of the users testing schedule and expected quarantine completion date, with users receiving an end of quarantine certificate via the app once they’ve received a negative day 14 test,” Kirkpatrick said.
“If the trial is successful, the app could add another solution to safely quarantine returning Australians.”
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Premier Steven Marshall said 50 people are currently involved in the domestic home quarantine trial, with 18 of those having completed their time in isolation.
“What we learn from the domestic and international Home Quarantine SA trials could help the entire nation to safely repatriate more Australians coming home from overseas,” Marshall said.
“Allowing people to quarantine at home will not only reduce the burden on our Medi-Hotel system but it will improve conditions for returning Australians.”
