COVID-19 testing in Ballarat: Creswick Road site to close at the end of September

Grampians Public Health Unit operations Robyn Wilson confirmed the site was to be decommissioned under plans to ease back with declining demand and to return the space to the City of Ballarat and Ballarat people.

"We appreciate Ballarat's support. We got our way on the roads and filled up car parking spaces but it was a really good site for us, visible and accessible," Ms Wilson said.

"The team has worked in 45C heat, in storms, flooding rain and freezing cold...in Christmas queues staff didn't close and Ballarat people brought them food and drink, whatever we've needed."

PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing remains available via UFS' COVID-19 clinic and 4Cyte's Skipton Street drive-through site.

Grampians Health operations will wind down in reduced hours, 9.30am-3.30pm, immediately on Monday to Thursday through next week, before dropping Thursdays the two weeks after.

Free rapid antigen tests and masks will remain available and, after closure, Grampians Health will continue to distribute these to vulnerable groups.

UFS and 4Cyte should also offer RATs and masks to those in need.

Ballarat recorded 49 new COVID-19 cases and 279 active infections on Wednesday.

Ms Wilson said infection numbers had significantly dropped across the region but it was likely a new COVID-19 variant would emerge "at some stage".

Should this occur, Grampians Health Public Health Unit would adjust its community response as it had throughout the pandemic.

The Creswick Road testing site opened in mid-October after the closure of testing at Sebastopol's Marty Busch Reserve.

Testing has also been undertaken in Ballarat Senior Citizens Centre, the public dental clinic in Sebastopol and in public spaces, such as railway stations, across the wider region.

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Ms Wilson thanks UFS for its support as a long-term testing and vaccination partner on the journey.

Grampians Health continues to operate its free COVID-19 vaccination clinic at 18 Drummond Street, across from Ballarat Base Hospital, Monday to Friday between 9am to 3pm.

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