Breaking News: SA To Enter Into Lockdown From 6PM Tonight

Premier Steven Marshall has confirmed that South Australia will be heading into lockdown as of 6PM tonight. 

In press conference this morning, the premier announced that drastic action will need to be taken following the discovery of five Covid cases linked to the Modbury Hospital cluster. 

The news comes as health officials have officially confirmed that the new outbreak is the highly contagious Delta strain. 

Stay up-to-date on the latest news with The National Briefing - keeping you in the loop with the nations breaking news as it hits. 

The lockdown will remain in place for seven days as of 6PM tonight with Premier Steven Marshall announcing that residents will only able to leave their homes for five reason. 

"From 6pm ... life care and compassion reasons such as taking care of a loved one. Number two, essential work. Number three, purchase of essential goods, such as food for medical reasons, including vaccination and testing," he said.

"And the fifth and final reason is exercise but that has to be limited to people from the same household."

Five cases have officially been identified, one being an 81-year-old man and his daughter who arrived from Argentina, along with two other men. 

The fifth case is a diner who visited 'The Greek on Halifax' restaurant on Saturday night, which is the same location another contact (of the original case) visited at the same time.

The man is believed to have been at a party with another contact at the venue in a private function room with poor ventilation, meaning the man was at high-risk of spreading the virus. 

Premier Marshall says the fifth case is "far more worrying" and that enforcing harsher restrictions is the only way to take control of the outbreak.

"We hate putting those restrictions in place but we believe we have just one chance one chance to get this right,"

- Premier Steven Marshall

"...We’re moving as quickly as we can to slow and stop the spread of this particular cluster." 

3000 people including many who had visited the listed exposure sites, are currently quarantining at home. 

Ridgehaven's Waterworld Aquatic Centre is currently housing a temporary Covid testing facility, with more staff attending the site to shorten wait times. 

For the full list of exposure sites, follow the link through to the 7 News website. 

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