By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Extra drive-through Covid-19 testing sites have opened in response to long queues sparked by a Noble Park quarantine worker’s infection.
The Department of Health announced five new testing stations including Jan Wilson Community Centre in Noble Park North and Monash University, Clayton.
Walk-in testing at Monash Health in Cleeland Street, Dandenong and drive-throughs at Carroll Lane, Dandenong and Springers Leisure Centre, Keysborough will open for extended hours.
On 4 February, wait times of up to three hours were reported at South East testing stations. Some were forced to briefly close due to exceeding capacity.
An urgent call for testing was sparked by a 26-year-old Noble Park man working in tennis hotel quarantine testing positive on 3 February.
A list of at least 14 high-exposure sites visited by the CFA volunteer – including Keysborough, Springvale and Noble Park – has been compiled.
People who have visited the sites during the high-risk times have been urged to immediately isolate, get Covid tested and remain isolated for 14 days.
Seventeen close primary contacts of the man had been identified by the Department of Health. As of 6pm on 4 February, nine had tested negative.
On 4 February, Premier Daniel Andrews welcomed the “many, many hundreds” of people queuing for Covid-19 testing that morning as “critically important”.
Victoria’s Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar advised people to visit the Department of Health’s website to find testing stations with shorter waits.
The Government has also announced the immediate reintroduction of mask-wearing in all indoor settings and a 15-visitor limit in households and a pause in the 75 per cent return-to-work cap.
The latest Tier 1 exposure sites are listed at www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/case-locations-and-outbreaks-covid-19
Covid testing site details are at www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/where-get-tested-covid-19
