SA’s world-leading coronavirus testing regimen is saving more lives

South Australia’s coronavirus testing regimen captures people who fall outside strict normal guidelines, a unique move aimed at detecting community transmission to save more lives.

South Australia’s coronavirus testing regimen captures people who fall outside strict normal guidelines, a unique move aimed at detecting community transmission to save more lives.

SA Health has now passed the 30,000 mark for coronavirus tests, and is using a stockpile of critical chemicals that it banked up for years but are now in short supply around the globe.

The so-called “background testing” policy means that all respiratory samples which are sent to SA Pathology for other conditions are also scanned for the presence of coronavirus.

The aim is to see if the virus is loose among people who don’t meet the strict standard coronavirus testing criteria, so officials can stop outbreaks that would otherwise go undetected.

According to the prestigious University of Oxford’s Our World in Data project, SA has been tracking among the places in the world for the highest number of tests per person.

Premier Steven Marshall said that having the best data available, which was becoming the envy of other states and countries, helped him to make right calls on SA’s local situation.

“Every time we take a respiratory specimen, nasal or oral, we also do the coronavirus test. These are not people that have been authorised to have the COVID-19 test,” he said.

“We have chosen a cohort that will give some indication of what the underlying condition in our population is. Those are background checks that are world-leading practice.

“That is why we know with confidence where we are, and the strength of our data.”

He said that SA Health had moved hard and early to comprehend the challenge.

“This early effort is now paying dividends for SA.

“Our strong plan is to flatten the curve.

“Having accurate data is a critical part of our plan to stop the spread of coronavirus.”

Oxford researchers Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Joe Hasell say good testing is “one of the most important things that countries need to be doing to help understand and stop the spread”.

They say there is significant concern that many countries still have poor testing regimes, making it difficult to know what is happening in their regions and respond in the right way.

“Testing allows infected people to know,” the pair write in a recent article. “People who don’t know they are infected might not stay at home and thereby risk infecting others.

“Testing is also crucial for an appropriate response to the pandemic. It allows us to understand the spread of the disease and to take evidence-based measures to slow down the spread.”

Individuals who qualify for a coronavirus test in SA are those with the common symptoms and have also travelled overseas in the past 14 days or interstate in the past week.

Those who have been in contact with known cases and have symptoms also qualify, as do healthcare workers with a fever and an acute respiratory infection. Common indications of acute respirator infections are shortness of breath, cough and sore throat.

Testing has been expanded to deal with particular SA outbreaks, like people who have been at Adelaide Airport since a cluster was found in baggage handlers, and a special Barossa clinic.