A western Victorian man who visited a tier-one coronavirus hotspot is confident his town has what it takes to fight the deadly Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The westbound McDonald's restaurant and Mobil petrol station at Ballan, east of Ballarat, have both been listed as tier one coronavirus exposure sites after a positive case visited the site last Thursday.
A team of furniture removalists from Sydney visited the site on their way from Melbourne to Adelaide last week before they subsequently tested positive to the virus.
Ballan Caravan Park bookings manager Adam Bernath has been quarantining and getting tested after he discovered he visited the site while the removalists were there.
"A lot of us are in isolation," Mr Bernath said.
Mr Bernath has backed his town to get through the latest outbreak as health officials work to contain the deadly spread of the Delta variant.
"Up here, they take it pretty serious," he said.
"It's just a small town. Everybody knows everybody here and they'll take it seriously".
Delta brings about more concern
New testing sites are being setup across western Victoria in response to the Ballan exposure.
Students at Bacchus Marsh Grammar have been asked to stay home after a teacher contracted the virus, while a Barwon Heads football ground has also been listed as an exposure site.
Eugene Athan from Barwon Health said the latest variant of the virus was of particular concern.
"We're always in a level of preparedness and we know that this strain is about twice as infectious as the previous strains of the COVID virus," Professor Athan said.
Ballan business owner Ian Ireland says there is a level of apprehension in the town despite new health measures.
He said there was a fear that Ballan's reputation could be tainted by the outbreak.
"Most people are keeping level-headed," Mr Ireland said.
"The whole thing is, we've got to do it together — it's not a blame game."
There are no active coronavirus cases in the Moorabool Shire area, which has registered 37 positive cases since the outbreak of the virus.
