top of page
  • Jason Regan

Jay Weatherill positive for COVID: reports

Former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, sending the state's opposition leader into isolation.


Former Premier of South Australia Jay Weatherill (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Mr Weatherill, 57, tested positive after attending a school reunion in Adelaide, according to media reports.


SA Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said he got tested after hearing Mr Weatherill had tested positive.

"Via media reports, I learned Jay Weatherill attended a high school reunion on Saturday where a COVID-positive case also attended," Mr Malinauskas tweeted on Wednesday night.
"Upon hearing this news, out of an abundance of caution, I cancelled my planned appearance at a high school graduation tonight.
"Subsequently, upon hearing the news this evening that Jay Weatherill has tested positive, I immediately left Parliament at 8.20pm and went to Victoria Park to get tested.
"I will isolate while I await the test results and further advice from SA Health."

South Australian opposition leader Peter Malinauskas is isolating after getting tested for COVID-19

SA Labor MP Chris Picton said his thoughts were with Mr Weatherill and others who contracted COVID-19 in the state on Wednesday.

"Hope they don't get significant symptoms and make a full recovery," he tweeted.

Earlier on Wednesday SA Health said two men in their 50s have tested positive for the virus after attending the same event as interstate travellers.

They were the first locally acquired cases of COVID-19 since the state's borders reopened last week.

"While the cases are currently under investigation, we believe the virus was passed on from an interstate traveller at the event," SA Health said in a statement on Wednesday.

A number of exposure sites linked to the two cases included a theatre venue in suburban Norwood, a seafood restaurant, a cafe in Adelaide's CBD and the Business SA headquarters in Unley.



Anyone who attended the event and was unvaccinated is required to quarantine for 14 days. A child who recently returned from overseas also tested positive for the virus, which took the number of active infections in SA to nine.


There have been 13 cases since the border rules were relaxed on November 23.

Under current arrangements, SA is open to vaccinated travellers from all states and territories, with some requirements for testing and quarantine.


The state's transition committee met on Tuesday but left all travel and local restrictions unchanged despite concerns over the new Omicron variant of the virus. Premier Steven Marshall said previously there was an "inevitability" about cases in South Australia under the new border rules.

"But what we want to do is to get to those cases as early as possible," he said.
"So that we're minimising the number of people who need to have testing or potentially go into isolation."

bottom of page