Bendigo Health intends to notify residents of areas connected to positive cases more regularly.
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The organisation began its new policy on Saturday when it posted a "public health alert" to its Facebook page.
Bendigo Health chief executive Peter Faulkner said the intent behind the alerts would be to keep the community better informed.
"There is expectation (from the public), people would like a lot of details," he said. "That's difficult for many reasons, most commonly because not everyone remembers what time or day, with precision, they were somewhere like the supermarket or Bunnings.
"There was some confusion in (the initial) language and we sought to correct that quickly. We will endeavour to be accurate as we can.
"The reason we are doing this now is we have seen, over the past week particularly, a significant tick up in the number of cases in Bendigo. Previously we had low numbers and no real concern there may be community transmission taking place. Most cases we knew had been from overseas travellers principally."
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The alert warned locals who had visited Bunnings in Kangaroo Flat and the Woolworths store in Golden Square over the past week - not including Saturday - to monitor themselves for symptoms of coronavirus. People showing symptoms should get tested.
People who visited those locations do not need to self isolate
Mr Faulkner reminded people to isolate at home before and after being tested.
"The purpose of these health alerts is not to do anything but raise awareness and encourage anyone who develops any symptoms to attend for testing," he said. "Don't go anywhere before you get tested and go straight home after. That offers the best defence against this virus.
"If you are doing precautionary things like hand hygiene, social distancing, wearing a mask and only going out for reasons you are allowed to. If you're doing those things, people are giving themselves the best protection they can. (Coronavirus) is a very contagious organism and easily transmitted."
Bendigo Health operates two COVID-19 screening clinics with no appointment required. A drive-thru clinic is located at the Anne Caudle Centre in Barnard Street and a walk-in clinic is on Stewart Street. Both are open form 10am to 5.30pm, seven days a week.
Mr Faulkner said Bendigo Health would have a 10-person contact tracing team from Monday.
"(We will) build that depending on demand," he said. "Hopefully, it will only a short time that we need a lot of contract tracers. I thank the health care workforce at Bendigo and across the region and state for the fantastic work they do by turning up everyday."
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