RAT warning as SA Covid cases spike to 2493

A 50 per cent rise in covid cases from last week has sparked new warnings for people to check their home test kits — and to plan for possible shortages.

Covid-19 cases have more than doubled in the last two weeks, with pharmacists warning that testing kits may be harder to come by if the trend continues.

South Australia had 2493 new Covid cases in the past week, shooting up by nearly 50 per cent from the week before, according to SA Health.

Signalling a trend, last week new cases rose to 1700 up from 1089 the previous week.

SA Pharmacy Guild vice-president Greg Scarlett said most community pharmacies, including his own in Unley, still had “no real problem” with supplying rapid antigens tests but there were indications wholesalers were under pressure.

“There’s certainly a significant increase in demand for rapid antigen tests simply because there is more Covid around again … we are in the middle of a wave now with a definite spike in cases,” Mr Scarlett said.

“There are some signs our wholesalers are being hit and supply is being pushed. It’s a bit patchy – one of our major supplies is showing it is now out of stock but others are showing they’ve still got plenty of stock.”

The Advertiser contacted 25 pharmacies across Adelaide and found that six were completely out of stock while one had a stockpile with a January use-by date.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners state president Sian Goodson said she wasn’t aware of any major shortages, although that may change if the upward trend continues.

“(A shortage of RATs) is not something we are hearing across our network of doctors at this stage but that doesn’t mean it won’t become an issue,” she said.

“We had seen a drop-off in testing but now that we’ve got a big surge in cases, with it predicted to be a problem over the next few weeks, people are likely to start testing again.”

Dr Goodwin warned against using out-of-date testing kits which are more likely to provide unreliable results.

“It is still important to test and if you do have Covid, avoid going outside and mingling with the general public … because you don’t know who you will bump into at the supermarket who might be immunocompromised for example,” she said.

“So, it remains really important to test and take precautions … and wear a mask if you have symptoms of any viral infection.

“If you are in the age group where you might be eligible for antivirals, it is even more important to test so you can get prompt treatment as antivirals only work well if you get them early on in your illness.”

In separate statements, both SA Health and the Therapeutic Goods Administration said they were unaware of any shortages of RATs in SA or other states.