One Person’s Lie Was Responsible for the Lockdown in South Australia

The person said that he contracted COVID-19 disease after visiting the Woodville Pizza Bar

One Individual's Lie Was Responsible for South Australia's Lockdown — Image: Marcus Wallis/Unsplash

Have you ever imagined a situation when one person’s lie could lead to massive lockdown across a state? That is what happened in South Australia when a person lied to the contact tracers. Read the details here.

The person said that he contracted COVID-19 disease after visiting the Woodville Pizza Bar that is situated in Adelaide’s north-west. The restaurant was identified as a hotspot, and people from South Australia who had visited or ordered from it for home delivery were asked to self-isolate themselves.

On further questioning, the person changed his statement and mentioned that he was not a customer but actually worked at the bar, which increases his chance of infection.

Talking about the incident, Grant Stevens, the South Australia Police Commissioner said “We were operating on a premise that this person had simply gone to a pizza shop, [with] very short exposure and walked away having contracted the virus. We now know they are a very close contact of another person who has been confirmed as being positive with COVID. It has changed the dynamic substantially.”

He added “The lie was the person claimed that they had purchased a pizza from the pizza shop, where in fact they were working there and had been working there for several shifts. That clearly changes the circumstances and had this person been truthful to the contact tracing teams, we would not have gone into a six-day lockdown.”

As there is no penalty for lying, the person would probably not be punished. Still, the fact remains that this person’s lie played a key role in implementing hard lockdown restrictions in South Australia. Those restrictions, which were to last six days, will ease sooner now- from 12.01 am on Sunday, November 22.

South Australia Premier Steven Marshall shared his feelings on this matter on Friday. He said “To say I am fuming is an understatement. We are absolutely livid with the actions of this individual, and we will be looking very carefully at what consequences there [are] going to be.”

As it is unlikely that the person will be punished, people in South Australia can just be thankful that he revealed the truth after a while. They can also rejoice about the fact that the lockdown restrictions will ease soon. In other COVID-19 news, read all about the NSW Government’s $100 voucher here.