Millions eligible for free RAT tests: Map shows where you can get them
Rapid antigen tests are free for millions of Australians but finding them will be hard. A new website shows where they are available.
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As millions of pensioners and concession card holders today become eligible for free Covid rapid antigen tests, we can reveal a website that shows where to find them.
The free tests are available from pharmacies but because of continuing supply problems only a few hundred of the more than 5500 chemist will be offering them.
Here are your burning questions answered.
WHERE CAN YOU GET THEM?
To find out which pharmacies are offering the tests consult the Find a Pharmacy website which lists all the pharmacies that currently have stock.
In addition Chemist Warehouse has told News Corp all the company’s stores would be offering packs of five tests under the scheme from Monday subject to availability.
Who is eligible?
More than 6.5 million Australians qualify for the free tests but to be eligible for the free tests you must have one of the following Commonwealth concession cards:
•Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
•Department of Veterans' Affairs Gold, White or Orange Card
•Health Care Card
•Low Income Health Card
•Pensioner Concession Card.
HOW MANY FREE TESTS CAN YOU GET?
Eligible Australians can access up to 10 free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) over a three-month period (maximum five over a one month period) through community pharmacies.
The Department of Health said pharmacies will give a minimum of two RATs for each eligible individual.
“You can ask for up to the monthly limit of RATs per eligible individual at any one time, subject to availability,” the Department of Health website advises.
HOW DO YOU PROVE YOU ARE ELIGIBLE?
To obtain the test you will need to attend a participating community pharmacy in person and present your Commonwealth concession card.
The pharmacy will record your concession card details and will check whether RATs have already been provided to you.
WHAT IS A RAPID ANTIGEN TEST?
Conventional PCR tests identify genetic fragments of the virus that causes Covid in a nasal swab and are performed in complex laboratories and take hours, sometimes days to get a result. They are very accurate.
RATs are a little like a home pregnancy test kit and are used to detect the presence or absence of viral proteins in a nasal or saliva swab. They are portable and can be performed at home.
HOW QUICKLY CAN YOU GET RESULTS FROM A RAT?
You can get results in 15-20 minutes from some tests.
WHICH TESTS ARE THE BEST?
The TGA rates the tests and you can find the tests that are very highly sensitive at this website
The following kits have been given the top “very high sensitivity” label by the TGA:
•All Test SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (Nasal Swab) (ICOV-502H) Self-Test – Nasal swab
•Cellife Covid-19 Antigen Test Cassette for self-testing – Nasal swab
•Clungene Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test for self-testing – Nasal swab
•Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (Self-Testing) – Nasal swab
•LYHER Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Antigen Test Kit (Colloidal Gold) Self-Test – Nasal swab
•OnSite COVID-19 Ag Self Test – Nasal swab
•Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test – Nasal swab
•Rapid SARS-COV-2 Antigen Test Card Self-test – Nasal swab
•V-Chek COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test – Saliva
WHAT TO DO IF YOU TEST POSITIVE?
If your RAT result is positive, you must let health authorities know and it is compulsory to record your result so authorities can keep a check on Covid spread and provide you with help on how to manage the infection.
In some states you will be fined it you do not record a positive result.
Advice on how to register a positive Covid-19 RAT test result can be found here:
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