Aus state set to end Covid lockdown

Adelaide, July 27 The state of South Australia (SA) will end its Covid-19 lockdown on Wednesday after successfully suppressing a new outbreak with 19 cases linked to an infection cluster, Premier Steven Marshall announced on Tuesday.

Marshall said that the statewide lockdown will end as scheduled unless there was a significant rise in community cases, reports Xinhua news agency.

The announcement comes one week after strict restrictions were introduced to prevent the spread of Covid-19 after new cases were found in the community.

Marshall praised state residents for abiding by lockdown rules but warned that restrictions would be eased gradually as the state takes it "one day at a time".

"We won't be going back to directly where we were with the lowest level restrictions in the country," he said.

As of Wednesday, schools and universities will return to face-to-face learning in South Australia.

Offices, restaurants, cafes, bars, and gyms will be allowed to re-open but must adhere to strict capacity limits.

Masks will remain mandatory in high-risk settings including personal service industries such as hairdressers, on public transport and in health care services.

Marshall said he wanted to see a "very high level" of ongoing use of masks, adding that "it really is one of our best protections".

Recently, more than half of the Australia's 25 million people were under lockdown in the states of South Australia, Victoria and the Greater Sydney and some areas in New South Wales (NSW) to prevent the spread of the Delta strain.

Australia has so far reported 33,081 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 910 deaths.