Coronavirus: Australian tests sent to Pacific islands amid doubts over China kits

Pacific nations will be able to conduct accurate coronavirus tests in less than an hour with new Australian-delivered diagnostic kits.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Picture: AAP

Pacific nations will be able to conduct accurate coronavirus tests in less than an hour with new ­Australian-delivered diagnostic kits, amid quality concerns over Chinese medical supplies being sent to the region.

The first of the Australian test kits have been shipped in recent days to Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Nauru through a ­“humanitarian corridor”. Supplies will reach a further nine Pacific Island countries in the coming fortnight. Many Pacific countries have not had in-country capacity to test for COVID-19, and have had to send specimens to Australia for results.

“The equipment includes testing machines and cartridges for individual tests. These produce rapid results from a basic nasal swab,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said. “Rapid detection is a key part of the region’s pandemic response.”

The equipment is supplied in a partnership between Australia, New Zealand, the US and the World Health Organisation. The shipments follow complaints across the world about defective Chinese-made testing kits and PPE, which have undermined Beijing’s so-called “mask diplomacy” efforts.

Minister for the Pacific Alex Hawke previously alluded to the poor quality of Chinese medical supplies, declaring “every country has a responsibility to make sure the equipment they’re sending is in good order”.

“It's why in a country like Australia, we take a very careful approach. It does take a little bit longer, but we do make sure, when we respond, it’s a high-quality response,” he told the ABC’s Pacific Beat. “The equipment we send will be in top order, it will work and it will be very effective. And we’ve got a very high reputation in that regard and sometimes it is better to plan and take a bit of time to make sure that response is right.”

The testing equipment, also to be sent to East Timor, follows deliveries of Australian-­supplied PPE, medical and hygiene supplies and assistance with quarantine management, laboratories and isolation facilities.

Senator Payne said Australia was already working with Pacific nations and East Timor to plan for their economic recovery. “Confidence in testing systems and community health is essential to this,” she said. At last count, the Pacific had reported 255 coronavirus cases, most of them in the US territory of Guam, French Polynesia and New Caledonia.