Medical experts say mass coronavirus testing in the central Queensland town of Blackwater will be the key to finding out how a 30-year-old man became the state's seventh COVID-19-related fatality.
Nathan Turner died in his Blackwater home on Tuesday afternoon, leaving health authorities with no firm leads on how he contracted the illness.
It was the first case of coronavirus in the Bowen Basin mining town.
University of Queensland virologist, Associate Professor Ian Mackay, said testing would help to reveal how Mr Turner became sick.
"It might've come from a traveller who's brought the virus in, it may have been sitting around the community going from person to person," he said.
"Getting tested is really the best way to find out who else may have it, and then we'll be able to work backwards and find out where it did come from."
Associate Professor Mackay said the virus often caused very mild symptoms or none at all.
"It's not a reason to panic but it does make you think if you've got a cold, or a fever, or a sore throat go get that test," he said.
He said it was likely there were already others in the community who had contracted coronavirus.
"There could possibly be one or two other people out there, maybe a few more, and that's what we'd like to track down," Associate Professor Mackay said.
Emerald-based GP, Dr Ewen McPhee, is the President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and has helped to set up a number of fever clinics on the Central Highlands.
"These are clinics that aim to put through as many people as possible and test them and get them tested quickly," he said.
"Just to get a finger on the pulse of where this virus is, and how it's spreading through the community."
He said there was good capacity for testing in the area.
"Medical manpower is always an issue in smaller rural and regional areas and often what that means is doctors and nurses stepping away from other roles, cancelling routine appointments and getting onto emergent stuff," Dr McPhee said.
"If there is a hot spot in central Queensland, we need to get on and manage that as a priority," he said.
More than 100 tests were booked on Thursday at the region's three fever clinics, which have the capacity for up to 400 tests a day.
