Covax Australia told to stop testing as QLD pathologies overwhelmed

The Covax Australia private testing company has been asked to stop PCR testing as ‘under-resourced’ Queensland Pathology units reach max capacity. It comes as a major testing bungle forced hundreds of Queenslanders to get retested.

The Covax Australia Covid testing company, which operates the drive-through clinics at QT and QUT in Brisbane, has been removed from the Queensland Health website and told to stop testing as Queensland Pathology units become overwhelmed with demand.

It comes after a major testing bungle that stopped hundreds of swabs from being processed.

Covax Australia, a Queensland-based private company, was enlisted to assist with the increased testing demand, however, it is not a certified pathology unit and must send all PCR test swabs to QLD Pathology or other private pathology labs for processing.

The Courier-Mail can reveal a number of tests were inaccurately labelled by Covax Australia and were not able to be processed by pathology units, with affected Queenslanders simply told to get retested.

Nathan McMasterhad been waiting for his test result since December 28 and after being unable to contact Covax Australia directly, was forced to call multiple hospitals and Queensland Pathology for answers.

“I was initially advised by Queensland pathology that they will be in an Esky awaiting testing,” he said.

“They said they had sent a few thousand swabs to Sullivan Nicolaides, QML, 4 Cyte and Mater and to contact them, but no one could find them.

People attending the new Covax Australia testing site at QUT Kelvin Grove campus on Tuesday December 28. Photo Steve Pohlner

“A Queensland Pathology staff member called me back on Sunday. She said that there are no controls or tracking in place to ensure that swabs get processed or even to see what happens to them once collected at the Covax Australia testing sites until someone at the labs enter it into their systems.

“At this stage, she said they can only assume that they are lost and told me to get retested.”

Covax Australia’s director Mannu Kala said he was not aware of the mislabelling until four days later, confirming 200 people may have been affected.

“It was a human error. One collector forgot to peel the label off and put it on the swabs,” he said.

“We had maybe 200 people out of 30,000 where the swabs were not labelled.

“For four days I didn’t know there was an issue, because tests were taking at least four days to process.

“If Queensland pathology had told me about the label error when they received them, I could have done the recollection (retesting) the same day.”

Mr Kala said Covax Australia had been asked to cease PCR testing as pathology units were so under resourced, they would end up ‘running weeks and weeks behind’.

“The reason of us stopping the testing is because they [Queensland Pathology] can’t process … which is fine, we’d rather stop testing than have people waiting for results,” he said.

“I’ve got 100 collectors right now waiting to be deployed, and I can easily collect 20,000 specimens per day but then you need the labs, you need Queensland Pathology to be able to process them.

“You can see what’s happening in NSW, there will be a time where we will require 80,000 tests a day.”

Covax Australia had since contacted those affected by the labelling error, inviting them to be retested exclusively and have their results fast-tracked.

“We opened a drive-through exclusively for those affected and marked the retests as urgent so there would be no delay,” he said.

“We have retested 150 odd people over the past three days.”

Hundreds of angry Queenslanders turned to Facebook to share their frustrations when learning their PCR test result that they had been waiting up to five days for, was never coming.

“I got a test on Wednesday morning at around 8.30am, I was told it would be 24-72 hours for the results. I’ve still heard nothing coming up to the end of day five and I tried to call the [Covax Australia] contact number eight times to see what’s happening with no luck,” Caleb Hamilton posted on Facebook.

“Was advised to get retested. They [Queensland Pathology] weren’t able to provide evidence of test (that some need to go back to work). Was advised that it’s Covax’s job to communicate this error to the affected people. Was provided two phone numbers for Covax Australia– one led to Southbank Doctors and another a mobile number for Covax Australia that doesn’t ring,” wrote Aaron Drummond.

The Covid testing sites at QUT and QT have since been removed from the Queensland Health website, with Covax Australia asked to stop PCR testing to alleviate strain on pathology units. Photo Steve Pohlner

Sarah Cusack was forced to drive her ‘extremely sick’ son to Prince Charles Hospital for a second PCR test after his friends returned positive rapid antigen tests.

“My son tried to get tested at the Covax Australia clinic at Kelvin Grove on the 30th and we were expecting to get results maybe 72 hours later, but nothing,” she said.

“What made me suspicious about it was when he went there, there was no QR code, they signed-in on a piece of paper.

“Apparently, it’s only a collection place, not a testing place by a third-party company and has nothing to do with QML, Sullivan Nicolaides or even Queensland Health.

“All of these kids who went there to get tested after going to festivals like my son are testing positive with rapid antigen tests, so who knows who else has gone to that centre.”

A spokesperson from Queensland Health said PCR testing demand ‘escalated quickly’ during the month of December.

“PCR testing demand continues to place pressure on hospital and health services and private pathology providers, particularly over Christmas where some providers had planned reduced staffing levels,” they said.

“Removing the day 5 PCR testing requirement for those entering Queensland, changes to the definitions of close and casual contacts, and expanded use of Rapid Antigen Testing will all assist to ease the testing burden over coming days and weeks.

“We thank Queenslanders for their patience and continuing willingness to come out and get tested.”