People turned away as major testing clinics closed for public holiday

Chaos continues at testing sites across Brisbane again this morning, with cars being turned away from clinics because of public holiday closures.

Testing sites across Brisbane, including a mass testing clinic, have shut for the Christmas public holiday on Tuesday despite a number of facilities reaching capacity throughout the week and turning cars away after up to five hours of waiting.

The Covid testing facility at Boondall Entertainment Centre has closed on Tuesday for the second Christmas public holiday.

Many people seeking a Covid-19 test this morning have been redirected to Murarrie. File picture: Lachie Millard

The updated hours were posted on the QML website but hadn’t been updated on the Queensland Government website in the morning.

Lenard Holding and his wife have driven from Ashgrove to Taigum to Boondall and have now been redirected to Murarrie to find an open testing site.

“We’re trying to do the right thing, because our daughter is a close contact,” Mr Holding said.

The pair were frustrated, asking why testing facilities were shut despite such a busy period.

“We waited for 45 minutes at Taigum before someone told us it was shut.”

Cars flowed through the shut site at Boondall which yesterday had wait times of around three hours and were instead redirected to Murarrie.

The QML site at Murarrie yesterday had five-hour lines before it was shut at midday and cars were again turned away.

Traffic control in place as a huge line forms for testing at Murarrie. Picture: Rachael Rosel

This morning, the predicted wait was just under three hours by 9am, after a 7am opening.

Cars are lined up for more than 2km, with cars blocking Lytton Rd.

Clement Barrault and Guillaume Duret visited six other locations this morning that were closed for the public holiday before finally being able to line up at Murarrie.

The pair and their friends were displaying Covid symptoms and decided to get tested to be safe.

“We tried seven places yesterday as well and were turned away,” Mr Barrault said.

“We just hope our symptoms aren’t impacting anyone because we can’t get tested.”

The group had been waiting for two hours in line with an estimated hour to go.

With four testing lanes open today at the clinic, traffic seemed to be flowing quicker than previous days.