Motorsport: Bathurst Covid-19 alert - testing begins after virus traces found

Last weekend's Bathurst 1000 winner, Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen. Photo/Photosport

A Covid-19 scare has hit the Bathurst 1000, after traces of the virus were found at the race site.

The crowd number was capped at 4000 each day - because of the pandemic - for the famous Supercars race last weekend.

The New South Wales Health Authority has urged race attendees and nearby residents to get tested and isolate if symptoms emerge.

Traces of the coronavirus were found in the sewage and it is reported that the positive result could have come from a current or previous infection, from spectators, workers or a resident.

Contact tracers are urgently investigating any links between known virus carriers and the event at Mt Panorama, about a three hour drive from Sydney.

An associate professor Sanjaya Senanayake told 9News that the results were likely to be correct, so someone with the virus was at Bathurst.

"They may not have been infectious at the time, they may have had Covid-19 a long time ago and are still shedding the virus," he said.