Of Wednesday's tests, 350 have already been returned, all of which recorded negative results.
No new COVID-19 cases were reported for Greater Shepparton on Thursday, with the number of active cases in the region remaining at three.
Locals flocked to be tested at 11 clinics across the region Thursday, with numerous new sites, including drive-through testing clinics, established throughout the day to meet demand.
The Australian Defence Force and neighbouring health services provided additional support on the ground, and while it wasn't without its hitches — with one site reaching capacity before it even opened — the atmosphere was mostly relaxed as people patiently queued.
Meanwhile the contact tracing team at Goulburn Valley Health has continued working around the clock to identify close contacts in relation to the Shepparton outbreak.
There are currently 340 close contacts and about 70 secondary contacts being monitored.
This number has reduced from Wednesday afternoon as contact tracing teams have been able to reclassify some people.
GV Health is also endeavouring to return COVID-19 test results to people as quickly as possible, with chief executive Matt Sharp saying the health service aimed for a 24-hour turnaround.
The Shepparton coronavirus outbreak was sparked by a Melbourne man who was a contact of a member of the Chadstone butcher cluster.
The man, who did not know he was infected when he travelled, visited Kilmore, Benalla and Shepparton on September 29 and 30.
However he only informed contact tracers about his travel to Shepparton on Tuesday, more than a fortnight after his visit.
Three cases linked to this index case were confirmed for Greater Shepparton late Tuesday, leading a staggering 1862 people to be tested across the region — including Kyabram, Numurkah and Cobram — on Wednesday.
It's a monumental increase from the average 61 tests a day being undertaken before the recent outbreak.
In Thursday's media conference, Victoria’s deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said he didn't believe a spike in Shepparton COVID-19 cases was inevitable.“I think it was 350 results (Wednesday) and the only ones that were positive were the ones that had already been diagnosed and we're just confirming that,” he said.“So it does appear ... some of those have been in some of these high-risk settings.“So we're encouraged by that, but clearly there's thousands of results still to come. So we really just need to watch that.”Prof Cheng admitted it was concerning people who were infectious cases had been walking around Shepparton for almost two weeks before they were tested.“There is the possibility that the first case has infected someone and then may have passed on the infection to the secondary contact,” he said.Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said consultation with State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed had ensured authorities would provide more support for those stuck in the lengthy queues while awaiting testing, with bottled water to be provided.He also said “closer contacts” would be pulled from the lines and prioritised, adding tests could be called to personal houses for specific at-risk individuals, citing an elderly couple that could not cope with queueing in Wednesday’s heat for multiple hours.He thanked the people of Shepparton for turning out in such numbers, and forecast extra testing sites could be set up if needed.“There’s 11 sites stood up now, I think there’ll be more, and if there needs to be more of course there will be,” Mr Andrews said.“But we’re very grateful, at dawn this morning there were people queuing, that says to me as we so often see with country people, very, very strong communities, common sense communities, they know if they stick together and do the right thing then we’ll find all these cases and protect people right across the Goulburn Valley.”Victoria recorded six new cases of COVID-19 and no deaths yesterday.All six of the new cases were from metropolitan Melbourne.
