The clinic at Portland District Health (PDH) opened on Wednesday and will operate from 10am to 2pm.

PDH chief executive Chris Giles said the healthcare service had "all the equipment and knowledge to assess and test at-risk people who may potentially have COVID-19".

"What PDH does not have is an intensive care unit or intensive care beds, we currently have two ventilators (respirators) which we can support short term prior to transferring patients onto an intensive care unit," she said.

"Managing patients on ventilators requires doctors and nurses with the skill to do this and we have some staff with these skill sets but will have a very limited ability should the COVID-19 outbreak escalate within our community.

"We are unsure if we will be able to transport patients to existing intensive care unit beds as they will also be dealing with the escalating outbreak. The best solution to this pandemic for our community is to prevent it and contain it, please help me to do this by taking the social distancing, and staying at home messages seriously.

"Finally, can I ask that everyone in the community support one another, by staying in touch, doing that extra bit, reaching out to family, friends, colleagues and neighbours, that way everyone feels cared about and no one is left out."

People must call the COVID-10 assessment clinic in advance in order to be asked important questions to establish whether they should present to the clinic for assessment

A clinical nurse will decide if testing is necessary.

Ms Giles said the healthcare team at PDH was evaluating their plans and activities daily.

"We are planning for the worst case but, with your assistance, hoping for the best," she said.

We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.