About 60 new COVID-19 infections have been recorded on Tasmania's King Island, following what appears to be a super-spreading event.
Mainland Tasmanians are also being asked to reconsider their travel to the island due to the outbreak.
A race meeting scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled due to the outbreak.
Urgent testing for the virus on the island commenced earlier this week after a positive case attended several large events before they knew they were infectious.
The Bass Strait island, which is home to around 1,600 people, managed to stay virus-free until its first case was recorded last week.
King Island Mayor Julie Arnold said news of the positive results was "very sobering".
"We knew it would be a very high figure," she said.
"We still have a lot of testing going on on the island so I'm assuming that the numbers will increase."
She said nearly 90 tests were conducted yesterday by the mobile testing clinic that was sent to the island, and more testing was happening today.
Ms Arnold said the number of cases and close contacts meant it would be difficult for businesses to cope with the loss of staff.
"Especially since a number of our people have more than one job, so they might work two part-time jobs," she said.
Virus will move through close-knit community 'quickly'
Several businesses have switched to takeaways only and some are reducing their hours.
"But we are really very lucky.
"Yes, we have a small community and it's very close knit, which means the virus has a chance to move through the community quickly, but we also have a very good support network.
"Even if people can't meet face to face they'll still be meeting on Facebook, they'll still be phoning each other, even if it means dropping groceries to their front gate and tooting their horn."
The annual Festival of King Island, due to be held later this month, has been cancelled due to concerns around the virus.
"We really need everyone on the island to be doing the sensible thing — getting vaccinated if they're not already vaccinated, using masks and not moving through the community unless they need to," Ms Arnold said.
