Fears of a coronavirus outbreak in South Australia with a ‘very strong positive’ result detected

South Australia is on high alert for a potential coronavirus outbreak after a ‘very strong positive’ result was recorded in a wastewater sample. 

The state’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Chris Lease said the wastewater was near the Adelaide CBD and the virus detected after overnight testing late last week. 

The positive wastewater test comes from an area that services around 12,000 people and includes the Pullman Hotel, used as a hotel quarantine facility. 

‘The wastewater system of testing is very much an early warning system’, he said, urging anyone experiencing any symptoms to get tested immediately. 

Dr Lease explained the positive sample could have been caused by ongoing viral shedding from an old case. 

However, Dr Lease said it would be the strongest signal the state had ever recorded in its wastewater from such an old infection. 

He said the positive result was a timely reminder to South Australians in the middle of their festival season to be ‘aware and vigilant of coronavirus in the community’. 

‘The virus hasn’t left our state’, Dr Lease said.