South Australia has recorded 4,140 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths linked to the virus.
SA Health said a man and a woman aged in their 80s and a man aged in his 70s who tested positive to COVID-19 had died during the last reporting period.
There are currently 181 people in hospital with the virus, including seven people in intensive care, with two people requiring a ventilator.
According to SA Health data, of those hospitalised, 132 people are fully vaccinated, 38 people are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and 11 have an unknown vaccination status.
A total of 12,003 PCR tests were conducted in the state yesterday.
The latest figures bring the total number of active cases in the state to 30,820.
Earlier today, Health Minister Chris Picton said the health system continued to be overstretched and at "crisis point", with an additional 200 beds needed in the coming weeks.
Mr Picton told ABC Radio Adelaide that up to 100 patients have been waiting daily in emergency departments for a bed, while an additional 100 patients are expected to need a bed as COVID cases rise across the state.
"There are some private hospital beds that we've talked about using for public patients, late last year and early this year, that haven't been used yet, so we are exploring those opportunities to do that," he said.
"Everything we can open, we will, to make sure we can get through the next few weeks and make sure South Australians can get the care that they need and we don't see these very long waits in emergency departments, in ambulances for triple-0 calls."
Mr Picton said while it would be a "last resort", he could not rule out a ban on non-urgent surgeries.
"The only way we got through the last wave was that there was a ban on all non-urgent elective surgeries in both public and private hospitals and we've seen obviously in recent weeks those bans coming back on again."
Mr Picton said that, as well as using private hospital beds, the government would be looking at using the old Parkwynd Private Hospital in the city, as well as capacity within metropolitan hospitals and peri-urban hospitals.
He ruled out the reintroduction of social restrictions, saying modelling showed that would have a minimal effect on hospitalisations.
Mr Picton also confirmed the Government was in discussions with SA Health to move testing from Victoria Park to make way for the Adelaide 500 later this year.
Schools 'bracing themselves' for further COVID impact
Teachers are increasingly feeling the strain of the rising caseload, as COVID spreads through classrooms among students and staff.
"Schools are contacting us just saying they're really short of staff would there be any possibility of us contacting any further casual teachers," said Petrah Harslett, director of relief teaching operation Tap for Teacher.
"They just need extra people they're having to group classes together — they're just desperate for staff.
"During the pandemic we did see shortages but nothing like what we are seeing now.
"What we are hearing from schools is that they are just bracing themselves… [and] that it's going to be this way for the rest of the year."
Some schools, including Adelaide High, have resorted to home learning, while others are grouping classes together or turning to non-teaching staff.
"The number of students that are away in class — it means it becomes really difficult to plan any cohesive program because you have to take into consideration the students who are present and of course those the students who are absent," Australian Education Union SA branch president Andrew Gohl said.
Meanwhile, South Australia's Police Association has condemned ongoing reliance on officers to perform COVID-related work.
Association President Mark Carroll said police are still manning some medi-hotels and performing isolation checks on people with the virus.
He said officers are burnt out and should be relieved of pandemic jobs that he believes are no longer needed.
"There comes a tipping point in all of this," he said.
"When you have 35 or 40 taskings waiting to be responded to on a regular basis, and we don't have the staff to that work, it becomes critical for the community and it becomes critical for our members who feel burnt out because they just cannot keep up with the demand."
In a statement, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said he was aware of the pressures and has constantly worked to balance the needs of general policing duties and the pandemic.
