Australians could receive 15-minute tests for COVID-19 immunity by September

Australians could have their COVID-19 immunity tested by a simple finger prick by the end of the year under a new plan.

Australians could have their COVID-19 immunity tested by a simple finger prick by the end of the year under a new plan. Picture: AFP

Australians returning home or travelling overseas could have their immunity to COVID-19 tested in just 15 minutes at airports and quarantine hotels by the end of the year, under a business plan being pitched to federal and state governments.

The companies hoping to roll out immunity testing, which tests whether a traveller is immune to the coronavirus after receiving a vaccine or being infected with the disease, say it could be used to help reopen economies and restart the international travel industry.

The test is done via a finger prick and up to 30 people can have their results processed at the same time within 15 minutes.

The finger print blood sample would be processed on a disc. Picture: Orbis Diagnostics

New Zealand medical diagnostics company Orbis Diagnostics has partnered with IDEMIA, which is developing a smartphone app and “digital identity” system to connect people with their test results, to commercialise the tests.

They expected immunity testing could be available in Australia between July and September, pending government approvals.

“We don’t know what proportion of vaccine recipients will still have a transmission risk (and pass on the virus to others),” IDEMIA Oceania managing director Xavier Assouad said.

“They may still be infected, maybe without symptoms but still shedding the virus. We don’t know how quickly immunity will wane.

“What quantitative immunity testing enables is through the identification of passengers that have such levels of immunity, called sterilising immunity, you know they would not be able to carry the virus even without symptoms. That allows you to release those low-risk passengers into the community without quarantine and focus the resources on the travellers that are a material risk to the community.”

The result of a person's immunity test would be sent to a smartphone app, which could then be shown to relevant authorities. Picture: IDEMIA

With IDEMIA announcing on Wednesday it will use its Canberra innovation lab to support immunity testing in Australia, the companies said they had reached out to all state health officers and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly about their plan, as well as relevant ministers and agencies. Talks were underway with several of them.

If Australia’s top doctors supported immunity testing, the proposal would ultimately be put to national cabinet.

Orbis Diagnostics chief executive Brent Ogilvie said a plan had also been submitted to the New Zealand government to undertake a 12-week final phase testing program, involving testing blood samples from people in quarantine and those coming through the border.

He expected a commercial roll out in Australia once the immunity tests were being used over the ditch.

Mr Assouad added: “We expect the tests to be used first in quarantine facilities in one or several states in Australia before then moving into the airports. There will be a progressive rollout in the airports as well.

“We expect this to be used not just on arrivals for inbound passengers but also on departures. The primary reason is you might want to know if you’ll be allowed in a country without quarantine before getting on a plane.”