Snap up rapid Covid tests, health sector warns

The government is being urged to act to secure rapid antigen tests as Australians clear shelves ahead of Christmas.

Global demand for rapid antigen tests is ‘clearly outstripping capacity’, while tests manufactured in the US are being restricted to that market, above. Picture: AFP

The health industry is urging the commonwealth to secure rapid antigen testing kits as countries around the world scramble to lock down supply ahead of an explosion in new cases.

Woolworths told The Australian demand for the testing kits had grown rapidly “particularly in NSW”. “We have more stock on the way to our stores and expect availability to improve in the coming days,” a spokesman for the supermarket major said.

On Tuesday, its online store had sold out of stock. Coles, its rival, had few kits left despite a two-per-person purchase limit.

HealthyLife, a wellness retailer owned by Woolworths, said it had sold more than 100,000 rapid antigen tests since the start of November.

Martine Cooper, a general manager at HealthyLife, said demand for the test had more than doubled in the lead-up to Christmas “as customers prepare for festive functions and businesses prepare for employees returning to workplaces in the new year”.

HealthyLife is unable to ship the tests to South Australia and Western Australia where they are restricted and the results not recognised. The commonwealth currently subsidises the cost of the more widely available PCR tests, with pathology labs paid $85 for each – but results often take hours or days to arrive.

Cumulative and daily reported Covid cases in Australia.

Scott Morrison earlier this week suggested the government was not amendable to subsidising the cost of rapid antigen tests.

“All the way through we have worked practically through the issues and we will do that in a calm and common sense manner,” the Prime Minister said.

Many testing kits retail for $15-$30. However, Rapid Test & Track chief executive Alan Higgins said Australians could have access to the tests for “below $5” if the government intervened.

“We can offer it at a price point where it should be – for the price of a cup of coffee,” he said.

Mr Higgins said if Australia didn’t act now, other countries could lock up supply. “All these other governments, who are very much on the front foot, (will) lock up supply and we’re left with procuring something that’s not up to standard,” he said.

“Governments around the world are acting quickly to shore up supply. It’s important Australia isn’t left behind.”

In April, the British government began sending out twice-weekly rapid antigen tests. Now, households are able to order one pack of seven tests daily.

Atomo Diagnostics chief executive John Kelly said Australia was faced with an unfavourable situation, having failed to invest in the domestic production of rapid antigen tests in the last two years, while other countries moved to restrict supply.

Mr Kelly said global demand was “clearly outstripping capacity”, while tests manufactured in the US were being restricted to that market because of deals between companies and the Biden administration.

“A lot of the Australian importers are obviously struggling with the vagaries of the supply chain and the US market,” he said. “There’s very few being manufactured here and the Australian government hasn’t been supportive of bringing the manufacturing onshore.”

Rapid at-home Covid-19 test kits are handed out to people in the US last week. Picture: AFP

Atomo Diagnostic has secured 20 million Access Bio rapid antigen tests for the Australian market. Mr Kelly said the company was benefiting from pre-emptively bringing in “a large quantity” of the tests in November.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia national president Trent Twomey said Australia needed to do more to secure additional access to rapid Covid-19 tests.

“Rapid antigen is another area where the Australian healthcare system needs to have domestic manufacturing capability,” he said. But Mr Twomey said arguments that Australians should fund their own rapid antigen tests rang hollow when held up against the broader pharmaceutical market. Mr Twomey said the government should consider stockpiling rapid antigen tests through its essential stockpile system.

“The Australian healthcare system isn’t a free market system, it’s a semi-socialised system,” he said. “We do not have a free market healthcare system.”

Unless the PCR tests, which take more than a day to process, the rapid antigen tests take between 15 and 30 minutes.

But they are not as accurate as standard PCR tests, and some Covid-19 cases will be missed.

The accuracy of the test depends on how well the sample was taken and what stage the person taking the test is in an infection.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allery and Infectious Disease, last week warned preliminary data showed some rapid antigen tests may not be able to detect the Omicron Covid-19 variant effectively.