The health, safety and wellbeing of Tasmanians is the Government’s number one priority as we continue to deal with COVID-19.
Yesterday there were 715 tests processed statewide – by far the highest number of tests in 24 hours since the North West Regional Hospital return to work testing.
This was made possible by our new drive-up mobile clinics at Glenorchy and Mowbray, which in just two days have already been a huge success.
There have been more than 700 presentations in 48 hours at these two clinics, with over 400 at the DEC and 300 at Mowbray. These clinics are continuing today.
Statewide, over the past two days close to 1500 Tasmanians have presented at our respiratory clinics – 698 on Tuesday and 750 yesterday.
This comes on top of more than 220 people attending our mobile clinics at George Town, Nubeena and Oatlands last weekend.
I am pleased to confirm the next round of rural mobile testing clinics will be at:
Bookings are strongly encouraged for these clinics, so I encourage any Tasmanian with cold or flu-like symptoms such as a cough, sore throat, runny nose, or fever to contact their GP or call the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738. However, we will not turn away community members who simply arrive on the day.
I can also confirm that next week’s drive-up clinics at Prospect Vale and Sorell will be located at the Prospect Laboratory Government Offices and the Sorell Market area in front of the Council Chambers. These clinics will run from Tuesday to Thursday in line with this week’s clinics at Glenorchy and Mowbray.
The Department of Health is continuing to consider drive-up clinic sites for the following fortnight, and we will provide further information as soon as we can.
Importantly, as part of our push to increase testing we have also developed more cohort categories, in addition to our core testing focus of people with symptoms:
Testing is a key part of our strategy to safely lift restrictions, and I thank Tasmanians who have responded in great numbers to our call to come forward and be tested.