Workers in high-risk industries are being asked to participate in a new Surveillance Testing Program as part of Victoria’s defence against new COVID-19 outbreaks.
Premier Daniel Andrews said that as the State begun to reopen it was more important than ever to find and track virus cases.
“That’s why we are doing even more to monitor sensitive settings, looking for positive cases before there’s any obvious sign of them through a new surveillance program that aims to test 25 per cent of staff in a high-risk workplace each week,” Mr Andrews said.
“Beginning with the food production sector, the Government will work with industry to ensure employees can get tested on a regular basis,” he said.
“All medium and large employers in the meat, poultry, seafood processing and supermarket and refrigerated distribution sectors will be asked to ensure that a quarter of their workforces are tested each week.”
Mr Andrews said this applied to all workers who operated from their work premises and would lead to the majority of a workforce being tested over the course of a month.
“After participating in the Surveillance Testing Program, employees are not required to self-isolate – however if they receive a positive result, they will need to isolate immediately and seek medical advice,” he said.
“Public Health teams will then support the workplace to determine any deep cleaning requirements, and to undergo contact tracing,” Mr Andrews said.
