30 July 2020

Kambah COVID-19 testing site opens to handle demand, virus found in sewage at Perisher

| Dominic Giannini
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COVID-19 testing at Kambah

A new COVID-19 drive-through testing site has opened at Kambah today (30 July). Photo: Dominic Giannini.

A new drive-through COVID-19 testing centre opened in Kambah today (30 July) to deal with an increase in demand for testing.

The site opened as the ACT recording its third straight week without a new case. Only one active case remains in the Territory, which has been linked to the outbreak in Victoria.

Wait times for the newly opened centre were around 20 minutes as of mid-morning, significantly shorter than the hours-long wait experienced by some patrons at other centres like Weston Creek.

By 11:00 am, 24 people had been tested.

Testing site at Kambah

The new COVID-19 drive-through testing site at Kambah. Photo: Dominic Giannini.

The extended run of no new cases in the ACT is in stark contrast to NSW and Victoria where 18 and 723 new cases were diagnosed respectively in the last 24-hours. Victoria also recorded 13 deaths in the last 24-hours, bringing the state’s total to 105, more than half of Australia’s 189 deaths.

There have been three deaths in the ACT to date.

RELATED Long lines at ACT COVID-19 testing sites after confirmed cases in Batemans Bay

NSW Health also revealed today that COVID-19 was detected in sewage at the Perisher ski fields although no cases have been reported in the area.

“While no cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Perisher or Thredbo to date, it’s important that anyone who was in this area get tested if they have even the mildest of symptoms,” a NSW Health spokeswoman said.

Free testing clinics are open at Perisher, Jindabyne, Cooma and Thredbo.


SEE ALSO: ACT budget bleeds red as COVID-19 takes toll on economy

A Public Health Direction remains in place for a number of affected locations in NSW, including the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club and hotspots in western Sydney, legally requiring anyone who has visited the designated spots to self-isolate for 14-days regardless of if they do not have any symptoms.

A full list of COVID-19 case locations in NSW can be found at NSW Health.

Canberran’s returning from Victoria, or who have visited the state in the last 14-days, must notify ACT Health.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith reiterated that Canberrans should be reassessing their need to travel over the weekend.

“Please stay at home,” she said.

“Someone in one of those areas where there is potential for community transmission might be travelling to the coast or might be travelling to the snow, and you might come into contact with that person.

“This is how we are going to get a wider spread of potential chain of transmission.”

For more information on COVID-19 testing sites in Canberra and their opening hours, visit ACT Health.

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