Highlights
- Those attended the Festival of lights function at the Fulham Gardens Community Centre have been asked by SA Health to monitor for symptoms
- The list released by SA Health also includes Ekam Indian Groceries
- Indian store confirmed to SBS Malayalam that no authorities from SA Health contacted them
As the new coronavirus cluster that led the entire state of South Australia into a six-day lockdown has grown, the South Australia health department has extended its contact tracing and has the details of places visited by the suspected cases. This includes a Diwali function at the Fulham Gardens Community Centre.
According to the list, those who attended the Festival of lights function on November 8th at the Fulham Gardens Community Centre have been asked to monitor for symptoms.
“Fulham Community Centre has been made aware by SA Health that a guest speaker, at a small private function, on Sunday the 8th of November has now tested positive for COVID-19,” a statement by the centre reads.
It goes on to say that the health and safety of its community remain its highest priority.
"We are working directly with SA Health to ensure we continue to remain 100% compliant. All 18 persons and the COVID Marshal who attended the function have been contacted and undergone testing. We are waiting on results, expected in 24-48 hours.
“The Fulham Community Centre was cleaned directly after the function, using COVID safe cleaning practices, minimizing risk to our community,” says the public statement.
Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
Indian grocery store affected
The list released by South Australia Health also includes Ekam Indian Groceries, an Indian grocery store at Enfield Plaza in Adelaide.
According to the SA Health website, those who visited Ekam Indian Groceries on Friday 13 November between 1.30 pm and 4.30 pm should monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if symptoms appear.
However, the Indian store confirmed to SBS Malayalam that no health authorities from South Australia Health have contacted them about this and that they came to know about it from their customers.
Cars queue for the COVID-19 testing facility at Victoria Park, just outside the Adelaide CBD on 16 November, 2020. Source: Getty
“We have not been contacted by anyone from SA Health yet. We got 300 to 400 calls from our customers and well-wishers after they found our store’s name on the SA Health website. That’s when we came to know about it,” said owner Gagandeep Singh.
“We came to know from many people that close contact of the infected person visited the store the day before Diwali. So, we sanitized and deep cleaned our store and all our staff did coronavirus test. Luckily the results came negative. We had to chuck many food and veggies which we felt could have been contaminated.”
He also added that the listing of his store’s name on the SA Health website affected sales.
“It was Diwali time and it was the peak season. The reported store has been very much affected. After we updated on Facebook that the store has been cleaned thoroughly, people started coming in. But it has affected the usual flow.”
South Australian Police stopping vehicles near the SA border 5kms east of Pinnaroo, South Australia Source: AAP
Concerned about the safety of his customers and staff, he said he is planning to email SA Health to know the reason for not contacting them.
“I am planning to email SA Health to know why they didn’t contact us. If they can at least let us know if it was a positive case or a negative case that visited the store, our staff can also be confident.”
SBS Malayalam has contacted SA Health for its response. SA Health told us that they are cross checking with the concerned team about the matter.
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