A new COVID-19 cluster in a regional Victorian town was sparked by a truck driver who didn't tell contact tracers he had stopped there, authorities have said.
The man, who was infected as part of the Chadstone Shopping Centre outbreak, visited both Kilmore and Shepparton, north of Melbourne, while infectious on 30 September.
But he only told contact tracers he had stopped in Shepparton after three people in the town tested positive to COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the Department of Health and Human Services compliance unit was examining the matter and could make a referral to police.
"You don't get in trouble if you tell the full story, I want to make that clear to people. You potentially do get into trouble if you don't," he said on Wednesday.
"By trouble, I am not just talking about a fine but there are infections in Shepparton today that we know of and there is almost certainly going to be more that were all completely preventable if this individual had told the full story."
The man had a worker's permit to enter regional Victoria and hadn't yet been told to self-isolate at the time.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews arrives at a press conference in Melbourne. Source: AAP
He did, however, breach coronavirus restrictions by dining at a cafe in Kilmore, where five were subsequently infected.
The premier urged everyone in Shepparton to get tested for the virus.
Testing sites have been set up at Goulburn Valley Health's Acute Respiratory Clinic, the McIntosh Centre at Shepparton Showgrounds and the Shepparton Respiratory Clinic. The latter is by appointment only.
Long queues formed at the Goulburn Valley Health site on Wednesday afternoon, with reports some people were being told by police to go home or face a six-hour wait.
The three people who tested positive in the town worked at Central Tyre Service on Welsford Street between 30 September and Tuesday.
An elderly man has a Covid-19 test under the guidance of a member of the testing team during a COVID-19 testing blitz on June 28, 2020. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
Anyone who visited the site has been asked to get tested and to quarantine for two weeks.
The Mooroopna Golf Club members bar, Shepparton Market Place Medical Centre, Thai Orchid restaurant and Bombshell hairdressing salon are also considered high-risk sites.
Anyone who visited between exposure periods listed on the DHHS website is also urged to get tested and enter quarantine.
Four additional sites have also been listed as locations of concern, with people who have visited urged to get tested then monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
"I have no doubt that the people of Shepparton will step up in full and will get on top of this," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.
"Everyone will come forward to do the testing that we're asking of them and they will quarantine and their families will quarantine at the same time if they have gone to the close contact sites."
Shepparton MP Suzanna Sheed said the town was behind the eight ball, given the virus has now been in the community for up to 12 days.
"It's just devastating for our community and for all our regional communities, we've just got to that point where we've had weeks free (of the virus)," she told reporters outside parliament.
"This is just the sort of thing we dreaded."
Seven new COVID-19 cases were reported in Victoria on Wednesday, including the three in Shepparton and four under investigation in Melbourne.
A staff member at Woolworths on Lonsdale Street in the CBD has tested positive to the virus and is self-isolating.
A Woolworths spokesman confirmed they last worked in the store on 7 October.
The store underwent a deep clean on Tuesday and has since reopened.
Metropolitan Melbourne's 14-day case average has dropped to 9.6 while regional Victoria's has slightly increased to 0.6.
Five more Victorians have died from the virus, bringing the state's toll to 816 and the national figure to 904.
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