SA Premier says COVID-19 case numbers to jump in a 'significant way' with elective surgeries already cancelled

South Australian health officials quietly reintroduced a pause on some elective surgeries just one day before last Saturday's election, new Premier Peter Malinauskas has revealed. The ban was introduced but not announced amid a rise in the state's COVID numbers, with Mr Malinauskas warning new government modelling showed cases were set to 'escalate in a rather significant way'. He said the elective surgery ban impacted all non-urgent overnight elective surgery in public hospitals. 'Needless to say, I was rather disappointed and somewhat shocked to learn that an elective surgery ban has now been reinstated in some instances here in South Australia,' he said.