Seven new exposure sites linked to Hamilton's Pedrina Park Pavillion construction site

Seven new sites, mainly fast-food outlets, were released by Western District Health Service just after 2pm today.

All sites were tier two, meaning those who attended the following venues during the period of exposure should immediately get tested and isolate until receiving a negative result.

The sites and their exposure periods include:

The exposure sites come after an out-of-town painter working at the Pedrina Park Pavilion construction site in Hamilton returned a positive test result in Melbourne.

The painter had worked in Hamilton from Tuesday last week to Thursday.

A Southern Grampians Shire Council spokeswoman said the site was managed by the contractor and won by Rendine Pty Ltd, a Geelong-based company which had used a combination of local and private contractors for the build.

The site was shut down as soon as the contractor was made aware of the infection and staff had been isolating following the advice of the Department of Health.

The site has been undergoing a deep clean and will not reopen until the department advises it is safe to do so. It's believed no council staff nor local subcontractors were onsite during the infectious period.

Southern Grampians Shire mayor Bruach Colliton said logistical factors meant large projects sometimes sourced workers from outside of Hamilton.

"We have a number of major projects on the go at the moment and we want to keep up that momentum," he said.

"The reality is, while we do use local trades as much as we can, it's often not possible - they are flat out on other jobs, which is fantastic for our locals - it means there is a lot happening in town.

"We have to aim for best value for our ratepayers money when it comes to awarding contracts and sometimes, for projects of this size, that means going outside of Hamilton. It is not unusual for us to have contractors from out of town.

"It was always going to be a possibility that COVID would get here, but we trust that people have been doing the right thing, checking in and sanitising and following the rules. We have a very high vaccination rate and we hope to see that continue to rise."

Data released on Tuesday showed 86.4 per cent of residents in the Shire of Southern Grampians had received their first dose of a COVID vaccine - the most of any in the region - and 56.4 per cent had received their second dose.

Construction workers must receive their first dose by September 23.

We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we aim to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.