South Australia is closing all cellar doors across the state to help control the coronavirus.
The ban – which includes takeaway sales – takes effect from midnight tonight.
It does not include online wine sales, and wine production and vintage activity is unaffected.
“Taking into account the circumstances that we have seen unfolding in the Barossa Valley, it’s been identified that a significant risk area for transmission of COVID-19 is wineries and cellar door outlets,” South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens says.
“So as of midnight tonight, we will be banning the sale of alcohol or other produce from cellar doors and wineries – they will not be permitted to open.
“We are also prohibiting the tasting or sampling of produce, whether it be beverage or food stuffs, in any premises across South Australia.
“We are trying to limit unnecessary travel across the state and with the Easter long weekend coming up and the school holiday breaks, we are trying to discourage people from undertaking those unnecessary trips to what might normally be considered tourist destinations or even day trips.
“We are trying to prevent what is happening in the Barossa Valley from happening in other locations in South Australia.”
SA Health chief public health officer Associate Professor Dr Nicole Spurrier says the Barossa still remains a “very significant” area of interest to SA Health.
“We are trying to piece together cases many of the cases that we have already interviewed to see if there are any links in that area,” she says.
There have been 34 coronavirus cases in the Barossa, linked to two tourist groups.
South Australia recorded six new coronavirus cases today, bringing the state total to 305.
Eight of those are in intensive care.
Photo: Wynns cellar door (Treasury Wine Estates website).
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