A bride was forced to uninvite 40 guests to her New Year's Eve wedding following a surge in Covid cases.
Rebekah Wintulich, 24, was looking forward to tying the knot with her 26-year-old fiancé Joel Goddard in Adelaide on the final day of 2021.
The wedding date was planned to coincide with South Australia's previous plan to ease indoor density limits on December 28, the date when 90 per cent of the state's population would have been fully vaccinated.
But a surge on Omicron cases saw Premier Steven Marshall delay the planned unwinding of restrictions and ban dancing at weddings to all but the newlyweds.
For the couple, who got engaged in May, that meant they had to slash the guest list to 70, from 110, for their nuptials at Holy Trinity Church followed by a reception at the Utopia @ Waterfall Gully restaurant and function centre.
'We had to call them all up individually and apologise,' Ms Wintulich told Sky News.
'Some of my family members have decided not to attend the whole thing because they don't feel safe being there.
'So that's sad but I understand.'
South Australia was home to 2,093 new Covid infections on Friday.
Professor Nicola Spurrier, the state's Chief Health Officer, on Friday insisted the state would continue to regard a close contact as someone who spent 15 minutes near a positive case, despite national cabinet agreeing to a new definition.
Professor Spurrier said the four-hour rule had not been agreed to by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), which was the peak body responsible for public health measures in Australia.
'That wasn't something that we had agreed to at AHPPC,' she said.
'It's not in the document that certainly I was involved with but, you know, I'm not at national cabinet.'
SA Health clarified the chief health officer's remarks in a later social media post.
As well as household contacts, a close contact in the state will include anyone who has spent more than 15 minutes with an infected person in a 'setting where there has been significant transmission'.
The definition also includes anyone who has had more than 15 minutes of face-to-face contact with a positive person in a high-risk community setting or workplace.
Mr Marshall backed Professor Spurrier.
'I don't think we had an agreement on the four hours,' he said on Friday afternoon.
In SA hospitals, 44 people are being treated for the virus, of which four are in intensive care including one on a ventilator, but all are in a stable condition.
Days after moving from PCR tests to rapid antigen tests for incoming travellers, the state has ditched test and permit requirements altogether, effective immediately.
'It was not a good use of our resources at the moment, and so the entry check requirement has been removed,' Mr Marshall said.
'The rapid antigen test requirement has been removed, but we are asking all of those people coming from interstate into SA to observe exactly the same situation that we require of all SA, and that is to monitor their symptoms and to take action should they develop any symptoms.'
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