Victorian health authorities say reports of long waiting times for COVID-19 test results are "very surprising", as the state breaks new records for the number of tests taken in a 24-hour period.
Swan Hill mother Aleisha Tomasevic said she waited five days for her 10-year-old daughter's test results, after one of the girl's classmates tested positive to COVID-19.
"It was taking much longer than we expected," Ms Tomasevic said.
"Some other students had received results within two days but we had to call around.
"We knew of some other people who were still waiting as well but I just thought it was an excessive amount of time, especially when you're a primary close contact.
"Everyone is trying to do the best they can — I just wish the results came back a little bit sooner."
Lost tests
Disability support worker Darren Greer lost a week of work after his COVID-19 test went missing in the system.
The 56-year-old received a text message on Monday, September 20 telling him he had been at Bendigo's JB Hi-Fi store at the same time as a positive case on Friday, September 16.
Mr Greer was tested at Castlemaine District Health, but after five days of isolating and being unable to work there was still no result.
After making some calls, he finally received a phone call telling him his test had been lost and he would need to get tested again as soon as possible.
"Really frustrating," Mr Greer said.
Long waits
Swan Hill District Health CEO Peter Abraham said there were many reports of people waiting four to five days for results in north-west Victoria.
He said Swan Hill Health was conducting between 200 to 250 tests a day as it dealt with its biggest outbreak of the pandemic with 62 active cases in the region.
"It is delayed, and this is a statewide matter — Swan Hill's tests go down with every other test from across the state to the Melbourne laboratory."
Victoria recorded 1,923 cases from 82,648 tests on Thursday, a day after it processed 83,210 tests on Wednesday — the most the state has reported since the beginning of the pandemic.
Testing turnaround still timely: authorities
Victoria's COVID commander Jeroen Weimar said he was "very surprised" to hear of long waits in parts of regional Victoria.
"Over 83 per cent of test results [in the state] come back the next day," he said.
"With a high number of tests, we're seeing really good … overall turnaround times.
"We're not seeing any significant number of [long waits]. I've certainly not heard of that."
