EGHS chief executive Andrew Freeman said the testing numbers at the walk-in clinics, between Friday and Sunday, were slightly lower than expected.

"They were a bit lower, probably due to the weather and the long weekend being combined," he said.

"The staff were terrific over the weekend with such short notice ... we had the assistance of the Ballarat Health Services Rapid Response Testing Team which we really appreciated."

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Walk-in tests continued on Monday - by lunchtime 30 people had presented for testing.

"We saw a steady flow over the three days, and saw a bit of an influx of local people getting tested Monday morning," Mr Freeman said.

"The results are starting to flow in which have pleasingly all being negative."

Over the past week, 80 aged care staff were asymptomatically tested, 80 abattoir staff were asymptomatically tested and 85 people also presented at EGHS's regular clinic.

EGHS is also asymptomatically testing all surgical patients prior to theatre, which involved another 40 tests.

"We are doing asymptomatic testing in our aged care facilities, which we have implemented under the advice of the Department of Health and Human Services ," Mr Freeman said.

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"We have had to train staff up and deploy staff to different areas to assist with testing. It means we have had to put some flexibility in place to accommodate that additional testing.

"Hopefully all of that testing in place gives the community assurance that we are getting good numbers through.

"If there is a positive case out there, we would prefer people to come forward with the mildest of symptoms and be tested."

Mr Freeman said he was "assessing" whether to continue the walk-in testing clinics.

"We wanted to see what the numbers were like before we made a decision. At this moment we will most likely revert to our other testing regime, where people phone up and book in."

In total EGHS has carried out 434 tests in the past week and all results received have been negative.

If you have any symptoms, no matter how mild, please attend the clinic for testing between 10am and 5pm Monday October 26, at the Patricia Hinchey Centre, enter via Girdlestone Street.

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