Harmful South Australia lockdown cut short, after it was revealed pizza worker lied about outbreak

Officials in Adelaide, Australia ended the state’s six day “circuit breaker” lockdown early after it was revealed that a pizza parlour worker misled contact tracers into thinking there had been a significant outbreak, CTV News reports.

South Australia's premier, Steven Marshall, ended the strict lockdown Saturday, two days before it was supposed to end. Marshall said that he originally imposed the lockdown after a man claimed he contracted the virus at a pizza parlour. Authorities were concerned about the possibility of an outbreak, so they locked the whole state down.

However, it was revealed after further investigation that the man was a part time employee at the pizza place, and got the virus from a colleague.  "One of the close contacts linked to the Woodville pizza bar deliberately misled our contact-tracing team," said Marshall. "Their story didn't add up. We pursued them. We now know that they lied."

Police say that it is unlikely that the man will face charges. "The Emergency Management Act requires people to provide information on request," Said police commissioner Grant Stevens. "There is no penalty for failing to truthfully answer those questions."

Embarrassed authorities insisted that the lockdown was still necessary, and that people who had been at the pizza parlour should still get tested.

The strict lockdown saw schools, shops, pubs, factories being forced to close. Takeout for restaurants was banned and people were forced to stay at home.

Tens of thousands of tests performed after the supposed “outbreak” showed no signs of community transmission, and only 25 of those tests came back positive. Many are saying that the government overreacted.

Residents of Adelaide and the rest of South Australia are now able to leave their homes for exercise, and businesses are now reopened. Some doctors in Canada and the ASA are calling for the same style of authoritative lockdowns to be used to combat COVID-19.