Cybersecurity concerns have prompted SA Health to give the boss of French shipbuilder Naval Group an exemption from the state's COVID-19 hotel quarantine rules.
Pierre Eric Pommellet is being allowed to isolate for 14 days at a private address after coming to Adelaide as part of Naval Group's contract to build Australia's new fleet of 12 submarines.
Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said Mr Pommellet was not the only person to be granted an exemption with others made for visiting sports people and for those with complex medical needs.
"There are certain times when we felt it appropriate to look at the circumstances and those might be health-related for example, but in this particular situation it was around cybersecurity," Professor Spurrier said.
"We try and do our very best in our hotels and we try and control the situation as much as we can but there were certain things like cybersecurity that we couldn't provide.
"Therefore, if this person was going to be in our state, we'd have to come up with a different arrangement."
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said police resources had been deployed to ensure Mr Pommellet's quarantine arrangements would remain safe.
"It is a test on our resources, but this is a unique and exceptional set of circumstances that we've been dealing with," he said.
Premier Steven Marshall said the state government had not been involved in the decision to grant the exemption.
But he expected the Naval Group to pay for the costs associated with the special arrangements.
"Our primary responsibility is to keep the people of South Australia, safe, and our economy strong," he said.
"But it's always a balancing act. That's why we have no political interference in this process whatsoever and that's the way it should be."
