South Australia's public health chief says dancing in public settings will stay all but banned for the time being, despite other states relaxing similar restrictions in recent days.
The state today recorded another 1,479 COVID-19 cases amid a significant drop in the number of infected people in hospital.
There are now 177 with the disease in hospital — a decrease of 44 on yesterday —including 13 in intensive care and two on ventilators.
There were no deaths of coronavirus patients recorded yesterday.
Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier warned it would be premature for SA to follow other states in reducing dancing restrictions, especially at a time of public revelry as the state entered its annual festival season, with the Fringe officially underway from today.
She said the outcome of those decisions in the eastern states would help inform SA's next moves.
"We're at a fairly critical stage at the moment, we've got the Fringe and Festival — great events, but you do have more of the contact," Professor Spurrier told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"I definitely think we're past the peak, the question is of course you can have more than one peak."
While there have been daily fluctuations, COVID-19 case numbers in South Australia have generally trended downwards in recent weeks.
Victoria has also overturned its ban, while the ACT government this morning announced it would remove all density limits from businesses this evening and drop its ban on dancing in nightclubs.
When asked about how long SA would remain the only state to retain a dancing ban, Professor Spurrier said the matter would be revisited in coming days.
"I like dancing as well, so [I'm] not personally against it," she said.
"Their Omicron wave was enormous, it really brought their communities to a halt, it had such a huge impact on workplaces and workforce, but we didn't get that here.
"Their numbers have come down, so they are a couple of weeks ahead of us."
Education Minister John Gardner said excursions, outdoor assemblies and sporting competitions could all resume from February 28.
In-school extracurricular activities, including band and choir practices, will also be allowed, as well as camps and outdoor activities where they form part of the SACE secondary curriculum.
Changes may be announced next week
Health and Fringe officials yesterday outlined mitigation measures to reduce the risk of spread at venues.
Premier Steven Marshall today indicated the dancing ban would be among "further restrictions lifted next week", after the next meeting of the state's COVID Ready Committee.
But exactly how far that repeal will go remains unclear, with the Premier indicating that dancing at weddings would be "one of the top priorities".
"We've been really buoyed by the fact that a week after lifting the restrictions last week, there has been no substantial increase [in cases] whatsoever. In fact … the numbers in hospital have come down.
"We've just go to do it in a balanced way, we don't want to have a second wave in South Australia."
Novavax to deliver 'bit of an uptick'
South Australians are now able to make bookings to receive a Novavax vaccine at state-run clinics at Noarlunga, Elizabeth and the Myer Centre.
Appointments are available from next Wednesday, for the only approved protein-based COVID vaccine in Australia.
Professor Spurrier said high vaccination rates had been crucial to repealing restrictions, and that making more vaccines available would help those trends.
"[Novavax is] becoming available very soon for people in South Australia who have just been a little reluctant with the mRNA vaccines, this is a protein-based vaccine," she said.
"We're hoping to see a bit of an uptick in people who may have been holding off."
But she said Novavax had not yet been "approved as a booster" by the TGA.
"You do your two doses and then your third dose would be Pfizer of Moderna," she said.
