Tate Papworth
A massive COVID-19 testing site at the Melbourne Showgrounds will open for students, teachers and parents of Keilor Downs Secondary College.
It comes as the outbreak linked to a family in Keilor Downs grew by three to 15 cases yesterday.
Victoria’s Chief Health Office Brett Sutton urged anyone with symptoms to get tested, but asked people to be patient.
“Keilor Downs is clearly a hotspot at the moment,” Dr Sutton said.
“The demand has spiked incredibly … you need to shop around for your testing.”
Premier Daniel Andrews said an “army” of door knockers would flood Brimbank from Wednesday in a bid to ensure people from all backgrounds are informed.
“They will do that job in providing public health advice and making sure that everybody, where language and other issues like that, won’t be a barrier,” Mr Andrews said.
“I would encourage people, if you get that door knock, take the time to have a conversation with the dedicated public servant who is going to speak to you.”
A possible lockdown of the municipality hasn’t been ruled out by the government, but Brimbank mayor Georgina Papafotiou urged a collaborative approach.
Cr Papafotiou said Brimbank’s business community would be particularly vulnerable to a prolonged pandemic with local employment impacts (which include JobKeeper) forecast to fall by an estimated 14.5 per cent in the June quarter, or impact 12,682 local jobs.
The council will now ask the government to work collaboratively, particularly around any possible further restrictions for Brimbank.
Cr Papafotiou said the council was asking the government to take into account the council’s advice and complement any increase of restrictions with an appropriate health, wellbeing and economic support package.
