South Australia will remove a raft of COVID-19 restrictions despite a recent surge in new infections but amid a gradual decline in hospitalisations.
From Saturday, SA will scrap all density limits in hospitality and other venues along with removing capacity caps on household gatherings.
Singing and dancing will be allowed in all settings while most people who contract coronavirus will only be required to isolate for seven days, down from 10.
People with serious underlying health conditions may be required to isolate for longer, but will be guided by health officials.
Mask mandates for indoor venues remain in place but will be reviewed next week.
The changes came as SA Health reported another 2590 COVID-19 cases along with four more deaths with the virus.
Thursday’s tally was the fourth consecutive day of rising infection numbers, after 2560 were reported on Wednesday, 2098 on Tuesday and 1577 on Monday.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said fluctuations in case numbers were always expected.
“The critical indicator for us is the number of people being hospitalised on a daily basis and that has reduced substantially and remains low and consistent,” he said.
“That tells us that while people may be contracting COVID-19 they are not becoming terribly sick with the virus, requiring that intensive medical support.
“That gives us the confidence to make these changes.”
But despite the easing of restrictions the commissioner urged people to continue to be cautious.
“We just need to remind people that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic,” he said.
“People are still getting sick from COVID-19.
“We still have a personal responsibility to make sure we do the right thing to keep ourselves safe, the people we care about safe and vulnerable members of our community safe.”
SA Health said the deaths on Thursday were those of a man in his 50s, a man in his 80s, a woman in her 50s, and a woman in her 70s.
They took the SA toll since the start of the pandemic to 219.
There are 91 people in hospital, including 11 in intensive care, with two on ventilation.
There are 21,514 active cases across the state.
(AAP)