At least 100 people have been classed as primary close contacts and ordered to isolate for 14 days after attending the Mobil Service Station and McDonalds at Ballan during the times it has been classified as a COVID exposure site.
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Grampians Public Health Unit clinical director Associate Professor Rosemary Aldrich could not say how many were in isolation in Ballan and Ballarat, but said anyone who had got out of their car at the site between 5pm and 7pm on Thursday July 8 could have been exposed to the highly infectious Delta variant.
"By attending that site it makes them a primary close contact," she said. "Anyone who attended that site and got out of their car and accessed services there, we urge them to isolate, to only leave home to get a COVID test, and to isolate for 14 days ... so if they do become infected we can limit the spread of that particular infection."
Ballarat Health Services opened a pop-up COVID testing site at Ballan Railway Station on Tuesday and within two hours it had tested 40 people, plus a further 80 on Wednesday morning.
"We are particularly seeking people who have been primary close contact of the exposure site to get tested, and anyone who has even the most mild symptoms are urged to come forward and get tested," Associate Professor Aldrich said.
The alert comes after three furniture removalists from NSW spent two hours at the Western Highway fuel stop before two later tested positive to COVID-19.
Victoria recorded seven additional locally-acquired coronavirus cases on Wednesday including four cases in an apartment block in Maribyrnong where the removalists had conducted a pick up on Thursday while infectious.
Among the seven new cases was a man in his 60s who subsequently infected his parents, who are aged in their 80s and live in Craigieburn. The man attended an AFL match between Carlton and Geelong on Saturday and was seated in level two of the MCC section of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He also visited Highpoint shopping centre.
The trio of removalists also did a drop off at a Craigieburn home on Thursday, as well as visiting several petrol stations and fast-food restaurants including the Ballan sites.
The Grampians Public Health Unit is spearheading the contact tracing for the Ballan exposure site, with four team leaders and six contact tracers being assisted by contact tracers from teams in the Loddon Mallee and Goulburn Valley health systems.
Associate Professor Aldrich said because of the nature of the exposure site, people who had passed through the service centre and McDonalds could now be anywhere.
"They're not just around Ballan but anywhere across the Grampians region and travellers who might have been heading west at that time of night ... (as well as) people heading north to the central highlands, Daylesford," she said.
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She urged people to make sure they properly check in to locations with QR codes to give contact tracers the best chance to identify any potential spread of the virus.
"The Delta variant is a particularly infectious variant of COVID. Not only is it easier to get it's also easier to transmit and very fast. As we have seen tragically in NSW, it's the case that sometimes by the time we find a person is infectious, even if they get tested as soon as symptoms appear, by the time they find their result ... they've already infected others," she said.
"As cumbersome as it might seem at times be patient if you do have to queue up to use the QR code ... we urge people to continue to use that," she said. "We know how important that is to help contact tracers find out who has attended a particular premises."
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