A hard 48-hour border was enforced on Friday before a permit system comes into place for reasons such as medical needs, essential work and agricultural requirements.

South Australia has reported 25 cases of COVID-19 in the last week - all stemming from an outbreak in the state's hotel quarantine.

Border residents have had regular coronavirus tests for months as part of a "cross-border bubble", allowing them to move into South Australia for essential purposes.

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Kaniva's Tiarnee Dyer works at a school in Bordertown and said she had undertaken 16 COVID-19 tests since the introduction of the bubble.

In a letter written to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Mrs Dyer said she had had blood noses and sinusitis as part of the testing.

Mrs Dyer's husband, Jonathan Dyer, said the strict testing laws for border residents had not been mirrored by South Australia's hotel quarantine program.

Only this week did it become mandatory for workers at hotel quarantine to receive regular coronavirus tests.

"To consider that they were requiring us to do tests every seven days, but workers in hotel quarantine were only getting tested if they had symptoms ... it's unbelievable," Mr Dyer said.

"It feels punitive rather than being based on risk or science - there have been no cases in West Wimmera for months.

"Well done South Australia - you stopped COVID getting in from Victoria. Instead, it came in from the United Kingdom."

RELATED: West Wimmera mayor concerned for harvest with border restrictions

Mr Dyer said it was one of the many ways in which the needs of border communities were being neglected.

"We're a small segment of the population and it feels like we haven't been understood or considered at all," he said.

Fellow Kaniva farmer Sam Eastwood said people in the region were tired of their treatment.

"Everyone is accepting of the fact that a line has to be drawn somewhere, but we are completely sick of being the people that have to do the hard yards, when the state governments are allowing people into the country to bring the virus with them," Mr Eastwood said.

"We've been getting virus tests every week - are they doing that when someone steps onto a plane to come here?

"They're not doing a good enough job of making sure people are virus-free when they get on Aussie soil.

"Now we are paying the price."

Member for Mallee Anne Webster said it was fair to question the hotel quarantine conundrum.

"Some people in border communities are saying they have had 16 COVID tests; if you've had just one you would know that is a horrendous thought. And yet hotel quarantine, where the outbreaks have occurred repeatedly, tests are not required? Where is the common sense there?" she said.

"They have a right to ask the question, why have cross border communities gone through this extraordinary process for months?"

Mr Eastwood said the border restrictions would significantly affect farming communities.

"All our service industry stuff is based out of Bordertown. They're saying things won't be effected, but they always are," he said.

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Mr Dyer also expressed frustration with the timing of the border lockdown, with the harvest season in full swing.

"It's another thing that compounds the stresses of harvest time, which are large this year because we're having a great season. We have a rager crop which is a great thing, but it makes bureaucratic interventions into everyday life even more frustrating," Mr Dyer said.

Mr Dyer had coincidentally dropped a truck off for repairs in Bordertown just hours before the border lockdown came into place.

"Who knows when we might be able to get it back," he said.

"It's going to affect different farmers a lot."

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