Bunnings car parks to be used for coronavirus testing in Victoria

Victorians will be able to get tested for coronavirus at Bunnings car parks under a state government initiative to ramp up COVID-19 testing.

A pilot is set to be conducted at the Bunnings West Footscray store tomorrow, before mobile testing further expands to a handful of stores in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Bunnings revealed to 9News the testing would operate completely independently from Bunnings and would take place in car parks, away from stores.

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9News understands the hardware store giant was approached by the state government due to its stores being equipped with large car parks.

Bunnings is still working through which car parks would be most appropriate for traffic management.

"This new initiative is just another way we are supporting the government and the community to help us tackle COVID19 together," Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said.

"We've been overwhelmed by the positive and supportive feedback we've received from our team on all the changes and initiatives we have implemented."

The COVID-19 initiative follows mobile testing rolling out across major Melbourne shopping centres, including at Chadstone, Highpoint, Doncaster and Northland which commenced today.

The testing schemes fall under the Victorian government's monster plan to get 100,000 people tested for coronavirus across the state in two weeks.