Doctors may face jail for using rapid virus tests on patients

A Queensland business has been selling controversial COVID-19 rapid tests to local GPs and clinicians who could end up in jail if they use them on patients.

A Queensland business has been selling controversial COVID-19 rapid tests to GPs and clinicians who could end up in jail if they use them on patients as they could lead to the spread of the virus.

Infinity Biotech website is offering “Australia’s first TGA-listed coronavirus rapid test in Australia” for delivery to the doctors but the antibody test has been restricted for use under the Public Health Act by the Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.

Infinity Biotech, with an address at Underwood, is owned by PPE Direct Pty Ltd and the registered directors are Mitchell Wan, Anthony Hua and Nhi Phuong Tran Vo.

The Royal College of General Practitioners is calling on doctors not to use the IgG/IgM test from Infinity Biotech.

“People in public health may use these antibody tests effectively for surveillance of the virus but they are of no use to GPs and I would warn doctors away from them as they could lead to the spread of the disease. Someone could visit the doctors and say they want to get back to work quickly and want a test with immediate results. The IgG/IgM blood test does this but the results may be wrong. They may come up negative and actually be positive in a couple of days,” Dr Bruce Willett said.

Infinity Biotech’s rapid coronavirus test kit.

The law states a person must not use one of these point of care blood tests unless they provide pathology services for Pathology Queensland or provide public health services for the Queensland Department of Health or a Hospital and Health Service or provide pathology services as a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited medical pathology service with scope of accreditation in microbiology.

The maximum penalty for breaking the restrictions is 100 penalty units or six months imprisonment.

The Royal College of Pathologists in a mission statement said the COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid tests have no role to play in the acute diagnosis of COVID-19 and “most importantly will miss patients in the early stages of disease when they are infectious to other people”.

A study published on Friday in the British Medical Journal found that the rapid blood test is not reliable.

Infinity Biotech website claimed that demand for the tests have been higher than expected.

A spokeswoman for Infinity Biotech insisted that the company had complied to all regulations in place from the TGA and CHO of each state.

“As for the restriction on the use of Serological COVID-19 rapid tests in Queensland from April 23 2020, we have complied with this. This restriction is for medical practitioners to comply with, so if you have further concerns, please direct them to your local medical practitioner or Queensland Health. As for information on our website, it was meant for medical practitioners who had an inquiry on further information regarding the product. It has not been updated since we have ceased assistance in distribution of rapid tests from a local supplier for more than six months now,” she said.