South Australia’s lockdown was sparked by pizza shop lie

In a bombshell revelation, South Australian authorities say the state’s harsh six-day lockdown was not necessary.

South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens says a person with COVID-19 deliberately misled tracers about their movements, leading authorities to enter the lockdown.

Health authorities suspected they were dealing with a super-strain of the virus, based on a COVID-positive person’s claim they were a customer at a pizza shop linked to the outbreak.

It has now emerged that the infected person, who claimed they had only bought a pizza from a Woodville Pizza Bar, actually worked at the pizzeria.

Mr Stevens said if this information had been known earlier, the state wouldn’t have gone into the tough lockdown.

“We were operating on a premise that this person had simply gone to a pizza shop, [had] 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,” he said.

“Had this person been truthful to the contact tracing teams, we would not have gone into a six day lockdown.”

South Australia has lifted the ban on leaving the home for daily exercise.

The state’s stay at home order will be lifted at midnight on Saturday.