Rapid antigen tests on cards amid Xmas testing chaos for travellers

Queensland will look to bring in rapid antigen tests for interstate travellers after thousands of people were forced to cancel festive holiday plans amid Covid testing blow outs interstate.

Queensland will investigate using rapid antigen testing in the new year to ease massive PCR testing wait times for interstate travellers.

In response to thousands of travellers being forced to cancel festive holidays in the wake of a Covid-19 testing debacle in southern states - with many not getting results within the 72-hour timeframe - Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said rapid antigen testing could be used at the border from January 1.

“We will look at rapid antigen testing from January 1,” she said, adding the government was seeking advice from health authorities about it before implementing.

Ms Palaszczuk said about 10 per cent of NSW testing - where there are queues for up to 9 hours - was for people coming into Queensland.

Queensland’s requirement that visitors return a negative Covid-19 test up to 72 hours before arrival has forced thousands of people to shelve their Sunshine State holiday plans at the last minute due to delays in test results.

Heartbroken travellers have been turned around at airport departure lounges or forced to book new flights at their own expense as the rise of the Omicron strain places extraordinary pressure on the health systems in southern states, while Queensland testing centres are also being overwhelmed by visitors forced to obtain a negative ­result after arrival.

Long lines at a drive-through Covid-19 testing facility at Bondi in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

While the decision to slash quarantine times for “close contacts” of confirmed cases from 14 days to one week was praised by tourism leaders, the testing debacle has already been a Christmas catastrophe for regional Queensland tourism destinations reliant on long-distance travellers.

In the past week, Cairns has lost about 10 per cent of Christmas holiday bookings, with the number growing each day.

Tropical Tourism North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen conceded the outlook for the region was “fairly sombre” until Easter.

“There’s been a lot of ­cancellations in the last week, so it is not the start to the ­summer that we were hoping for,” Mr Olsen said.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and it presents a big challenge,” he said.

Delays over test results was one of a number of problems causing cancellations, with fear over being forced into quarantine and staff shortages also to blame, he said.

The Gold and Sunshine coasts have been less affected as many bookings are from within the drive market.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the testing drama was another unfortunate factor deterring interstate visitors.

“People need the confidence to be able to travel and with the uncertainty over testing results, you just deter ­people from even embarking” Mr Gschwind said.

In Sydney, testing clinic websites crashed and phone calls were also terminated due to “unprecedented volumes”, with callers redirected to an email address.

Lara Kilborn said her daughter Ella Gould went to a Sydney testing clinic in Caringbah on Sunday morning, but she was unable to get a test herself at the Heathcote clinic until Monday due to the “extreme heat”.

Ms Kilborn, who was meant to relocate to Queensland in August, said her daughter’s wait for results had exceeded 60 hours by Tuesday afternoon.

Long lines at a drive-through Covid-19 testing facility at Bondi in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“My daughter and I are meant to fly out of Sydney at 7am on Wednesday and spend Christmas in Queensland – I was excited to finally be able to show my daughter my new house and even booked in for Christmas lunch at the local, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible anymore,” she said.

Ms Kilborn said the requirement for a 72-hour turnaround was too tight and Queensland Health was unable to offer her a solution when she contacted them.

“I don’t even know if we are going to get there for Christmas now – it’s very tiring when you have done the right thing,” she said. “I know that everyone will blame NSW Health for not getting our results back quick enough, but if Queensland Health didn’t have such a strong 72-hour wall then you wouldn’t have these bottlenecks.”

NSW Health’s Pathology website says the extended turnaround for test results is due to current outbreaks and high testing numbers.

It comes as NSW Health maintains that test results may take up to 72 hours, ­despite reports of some tests taking up to five days.

NSW Health has reported a daily average of 141,856 Covid-19 tests over the past four days – about seven times higher than Queensland.

Gold Coaster Rhys Jones was out of pocket after his Covid-19 test results didn't come back in time to fly his daughter Alicia, 7, home to Queensland. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Rhys Jones discovered a round trip to Sydney was not feasible within a weekend when he flew south to bring his daughter Alicia, 7, home for Christmas.

Mr Jones, of Ashmore on the Gold Coast, flew south on Saturday morning and headed straight to a Bondi testing clinic for a PCR test as required by the State Government to come home from a hotspot.

He had not received his result by the time his flight home departed at 9.30pm on Sunday.

Mr Jones’s negative test result came an hour later and he paid for new flights home the next day.

“The wait was really stressful,” he said.

“The whole reason I didn’t travel was because I didn’t have a negative result … but when I actually got to Queensland, a police officer checked my border pass only.

“They didn’t even check my vaccination status and they didn’t even check my negative test result.”

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said yesterday there would not be an extension of the 72-hour test window.

He said he was aware of the long wait times to even get the test interstate.

Mr Miles said long delays were expected given Queensland police had issued more than 235,000 border passes for travellers from interstate hot spots.