A Bacchus Marsh couple are breathing a sigh of relief, after waiting a whopping eight days for the results of COVID19 testing.

The pair were tested at Djerriwarrh Health Services ‘drive-in’ clinic at Melton on Friday May 8, but were unable to operate their small business or leave home until the all-clear was given on Saturday May 16.

“We want to interview someone to give them a job but we can’t, as we need our test results back first,” she said.

“My husband would have been training the person (straight away) so we really needed to know we were OK.”

The results came a day after Moorabool Online contacted the State Government and Djerriwarrh Health.

“The test results for the Moorabool area are really back-logged,” she said,

“I know someone tested on May 6 and they were still waiting on May 14.

“We can’t work or go out or anything.”

The woman said she was astounded to learn that Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was tested after a coughing fit in Federal Parliament during the week – and his test results came back the next morning – showing he was clear.

“People need to remember the stats we are being told are days behind,” she said.

Djerriwarrh Health Services has screened more than 6300 people since March and swabbed 5000 for COVID19. Swabs are sent to Australian Clinical Labs in Clayton.

“We have had a fantastic response from the community, and as the testing criteria has expanded we continue to test more people from across Melbourne,” a hospital spokesperson said.

“As soon as we receive the test results back, our dedicated team call every patient to deliver their results, seven days a week.

“It’s been an enormous effort. We are fortunate to have such committed people, ready to rise to the challenge of protecting our community through these difficult times.”

“We want to interview someone to give them a job but we can’t, as we need our test results back”

A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services department said testing was being processed by 15 laboratories in Victoria including three public health reference labs, nine public hospitals and three private providers.

“Victoria’s labs are working round the clock to process all the additional tests, but with so many coming in every day, it is taking a little longer to confirm the results,” the spokesperson said.

“In most cases it takes around three to five business days from the time of the test to confirmation of the result, but there may be times where the result takes a little longer.”

As of Friday (May 14) 309,000 COVID19 tests had been carried out in Victoria – one of the highest-per-capita regimes in the world.

“We want to thank the community for their support and their patience,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re working as quickly as we can to get timely and accurate results back to those people who came forward for testing.”

Anyone who has been waiting more than five business days for their result should contact the clinic where they were tested, or to call the COVID-19 hotline  ( 1800 020 080 ) if they were tested at mobile clinic.

Image: CSIRO

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Gabrielle Hodson
Author: Gabrielle Hodson

Online, radio, TV and print journalist since 1993. BA (Hum) majoring in journalism Deakin University. Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/MooraboolOnline I'd love to hear your news tips 🙂 Email -- news@mooraboolonloine.com.au OR send us a message via Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/MooraboolOnline