New Covid testing sites to open across Melbourne as demand surges

New Covid testing sites will open across Melbourne over the weekend and 20 more will open an hour earlier after massive delays.

Melbourne testing centres have been swamped before the holiday season. Picture: Ian Currie

Three new Covid testing sites have been set up across Melbourne over the weekend and 20 more will open an hour earlier after massive delays left people queuing as long as six hours in the lead-up to Christmas.

Victorians have also been reassured they may not have to quarantine for seven days if exposed to Omicron.

Travellers gearing up to head interstate for the holidays must test negative prior to travel, triggering a surge in demand that saw a record 88,000 queue up for a swab on Friday.

Two walk-in sites were opened on Saturday at Chisholm TAFE’s Dandenong and Berwick campuses, while a Frankston drive-through site also opened on Sunday to ease pressure on the system.

Twenty testing sites in suburbs such as Berwick, Albert Park, Burwood, Cheltenham and Chadstone have adjusted their opening times since late November.

Melbourne Showgrounds and Montague St, South Melbourne are also opening early.

Acting Premier James Merlino said these sites were throwing open their doors at 7am instead of 8am due to the demand for an early morning swab.

Crowds wait at the Covid testing site at Melbourne University in Carlton on Saturday. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We’ve been making measures to extend the hours or make the hours more usable for people,” he said.

“I know there are particular sites where the wait is long but on average, the wait is 45 minutes to an hour or so.

“I ask people to be patient. We’re expanding it, extending it, as much as we can.”

However, Melburnians were still forced to wait up to three hours for a test at St Vincent’s Hospital and 2.5 hours at The Royal Children’s Hospital on Sunday morning.

A handful of sites were “over capacity” around midday, forcing staff to turn patients away.

The Herald Sun understands hordes of Melburnians are flocking to sites early in the morning in a rush to beat the queue, blowing out wait times, instead of choosing to head to a site later in the day.

The state government has also moved to reassure Victorians that public exposure to Omicron will be considered on a “case-by-case basis following public health review”.

“Going forward, contacts in Victoria are now following the standard protocols regardless of variant,” said Brett Sutton in the daily chief health officer update. “Non-household contacts (such as social, workplace or education contacts) are advised to get a PCR test and isolate until they get a negative result.”

The Department of Health will still manage certain contacts, particularly those at likely superspreader events, “more cautiously”.

There are now 24 confirmed cases of Omicron across Victoria, with 16 of them acquired overseas.

The swamped Covid testing site at Prahran Town Hall. Picture: Alex Coppel

It comes the day after thousands of Victorians braved summer heat to head to a test site on Saturday, only to find some major clinics had shut once capacity was met by late morning.

By lunchtime, The Alfred hospital, Monash Health in Dandenong, Heidelberg ­Repatriation Centre and sports centre Springers in Keysborough had put up the “full” sign – while waiting times ballooned out to three hours at other centres before they, too, closed.

Several clinics across Melbourne were fully booked on Saturday, with some centres not taking appointments for days.

In the city, CBD Doctors Melbourne was fully booked until Monday and it was a similar case for other testing clinics across Melbourne.

Altona North Respiratory Clinic, Port Melbourne Respiratory Clinic and Coolaroo Respiratory Clinic were fully booked until Monday.

In Melbourne’s north, Covid-19 testing appointments at Thomastown Respiratory Clinic were unavailable until 11.30am on Wednesday.

Federal Liberal MP for Goldstein Tim Wilson said: “It is disappointing many families will pay at Christmas from the Victorian government’s failure to fully prepare for the expected surge in testing resulting from opening up.”

But the Department of Health said despite record demand, the system had been expanded by 55 per cent since October, with afternoon wait times generally shorter. There are now 260 testing sites across the state.

Elizabeth Moyle and her husband said they were left stranded in a queue on Saturday morning after a drive-through test facility in Werribee closed due to the heat.

“I understand there may be health and safety issues but we are going into summer. How on earth are we going to get tested on days hotter than this?” she said.

“We are now isolating and we will go back first thing in the morning.”

Parents also voiced frustration at a lack of options for young children. Stephanie Ng said she recently took her toddler to get tested at The Alfred clinic and was told priority access for infants had been suspended and there would be a four-hour wait.

“It was a shock because it used to be priority access and a pain-free experience,” she said. “It’s definitely a disincentive to get children tested because they often have colds from childcare and do not have the patience to wait four hours.” Another patient, who did not want to be identified, said she waited more than three hours for a test despite “shopping around” for hubs.

“Testing should be as simple as getting petrol. The government needs to offer this basic health service within a reasonable time,” she said.

Associate principal research fellow at Burnet Institute Michael Toole said changes may be needed in coming weeks because Victorian cases were expected to rise in line with NSW, owing to Omicron.

“We don’t want to dissuade people from getting tested by waiting in queues for hours,” he said.

“We need to open more of those pop-up test sites to make it more convenient for people. With schools closing for holidays, perhaps they could begin testing there and prioritise children.”

Prof Toole said NSW had seen more than 137,000 tests recently, and Victoria should be aiming to get to 100,000.