South Australia has reported seven more COVID-19 deaths as the number of new infections across the state also spiked.

Premier Steven Marshall says 3715 new cases were detected, 2978 through PCR swabs and 737 through rapid antigen tests.

Among the deaths reported on Wednesday, six were women aged from their 60s to 100 and one was a man in his 90s.

They take SA’s death toll since the start of the pandemic to 26.

The number of people in hospital has fallen to 190, with 27 of those in intensive care and six on ventilators.

The number of health workers with the virus has grown to 524.

The increase in cases comes as SA prepared to lift its bed capacity to care for patients and spread the load across more public hospitals as it braces for the peak in cases in coming weeks.

The government will move some non-virus public hospital patients to private facilities to boost total capacity for admissions to 500.

It will also lift intensive care unit beds to 60.

“The emergence of Omicron has changed the game. The severity of cases is lower but higher transmissibility means that there are more cases,” Mr Marshall said.

“Just as we adapted our strategy for Delta, we are adapting our response to Omicron to ensure we once again rise to the challenges of the worldwide pandemic.”

“This will mean a pivot from the original plan where the vast majority of COVID-positive patients were to be cared for at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.”

Under the new arrangements, the RAH will take 300 patients, with up to 100 each in the Lyell McEwin Hospital and the Flinders Medical Centre.

Officials still expect 98 per cent of Omicron cases will experience mild to moderate symptoms and will be able to safely isolate in their own homes.

One per cent of positive cases will require supported care, such as in hotel quarantine, with the remaining one per cent to be hospitalised.

Local Health Networks, which run the SA Health public hospitals, is determining which services and beds can be moved to other sites to create capacity.

Some plans are already in place with cardiothoracic surgery at the Flinders Medical Centre moving to Flinders Private Hospital and some surgical activity expected to flow from the RAH to the Calvary Hospital soon.

“The pandemic is constantly evolving and our response will constantly evolve,” Mr Marshall said.

– AAP