The Victorian harness racing industry is holding its collective breath after a person who attended a race meeting at Melton on Monday, August 2, has subsequently tested positive to COVID-19.
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Reports on Wednesday state that the person is an industry participant.
All participants who attended the Mellton meeting have been advised to immediately isolate and have a COVID-19 test.
A meeting planned for Melton on Wednesday night has as a result been called off.
Harness Racing Victoria chief executive officer Dayle Brown said HRV had been advised of the link to the positive COVID-19 test by the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria late Tuesday night.
He said HRV was working closely with DHHS to learn more about the matter.
Brown said it was still not clear whether the person had been infectious at the time of the race meeting.
He said the investigation was evolving.
Brown said it was believed the person who tested positive had not attended any harness race meetings since August 2.
Ballarat and District Trotting Club hosted a meeting on Friday, August 6.
Brown said the industry had worked hard since the initial COVID-19 outbreak early last year to keep harness racing going, but it had to be remembered that particpants had lives outside racing.
He said any decisions on upcoming meetings would be depend on the outcome of investigations into the matter as Wednesday progressed.
UPDATE
DHHS has listed Melton's TABcorp Park as a tier 2 site.
It relates to 2.23pm - 5.30pm on Monday, August 2.
Some individuals will be Tier 1 contacts required to quarantine for 14 days and the department will contact them directly with this advice.
