Queensland accused of ‘perverting’ NSW’s Covid-19 testing regime

Queensland has been accused of ‘perverting’ the fight to contain Omicron after its ­demand that travellers return a negative Covid-19 test paralysed the NSW system.

Hundreds of people queue in Ultimo in Sydney on Monday for a Covid-19 test, with more than 600,000 carried out in NSW since Christmas Eve. Picture: Richard Dobson

Queensland has been accused of “perverting’’ the fight to contain the Omicron outbreak after its ­demand hundreds of thousands of travellers return a negative Covid-19 test paralysed the NSW virus surveillance system.

Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday indicated the Queensland government may move to rapid antigen tests for interstate arrivals for both those entering the Sunshine State and visitors who had been there for five days after it emerged the NSW PCR testing ­regime had been overwhelmed by about 150,000 people seeking a negative result to satisfy Covid entry rules.

As Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital revealed it had given premature negative test results to nearly 1400 people as laboratories struggled to cope with the demand, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard lashed the Queensland entry rules, which he said had accounted for about one quarter of all tests taken in his state in the lead up to the Christmas holiday period.

More than 600,000 PCR tests have been conducted in NSW since Christmas Eve, a level not seen since the second Sydney lockdown forced by the Delta outbreak.

Mr Hazzard told The Australian Ms Palaszczuk’s refusal to loosen travel rules before the new year weekend – and the lack of ­policing of the tests at Queensland’s border – had been “stupid” and forced his state’s testing system into meltdown.

“Nothing has been checked at the airports,” he said. “I’m told that there’s usually a couple of police who are doing what the poor police have been told they must do, which is make a token effort to look at a few people’s test results. But 99 per cent of people are not being looked at. So why are they doing this?

“Waits on the pathology system that Queensland is forcing on NSW is perverting the whole purpose of getting sound, prompt, clinical results for people who may be positive and should be in isolation.

“I think it’s raw politics. I think Premier Palaszczuk made a statement that she’s now not prepared to back off and I would say to her that we’ve all had to take forward and backward steps in Covid and that’s something which the community understands. But intransigence is not something that the community understands.”

In NSW, some of the 300 testing locations were reporting four-hour queues, with the average waiting time for results between 48 and 72 hours. In Victoria, more than 16 per cent of people tested are waiting longer than 24 hours for the results of their tests.

The concerns over testing came as NSW recorded 6324 cases on Monday and Victoria recorded 1999. There were 784 infections in Queensland, 842 in South Australia and 189 infections in the ACT.

Ms Palaszczuk said health authorities had not settled on rapid testing protocols, but the ­decision promises to relieve pressure on overwhelmed PCR testing centres and delays in turning ­results around.

Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard said the use of rapid antigen tests for screening was still being considered by AHPPC, but he personally supported its use for interstate travel. “The rapid test has a specific purpose. It is a screening test and is not as sensitive as the PCR, but if we are using it for this specific purpose – as a screen from a high-incidence state – then it is appropriate,” he said. Warren Entsch — the veteran government MP for the far north Queensland seat of Leichhardt which is home to a raft of tourist hot spots including Cairns – said Ms Palaszczuk had made a mistake in insisting on a negative PCR test 72 hours prior to arrival in Queensland.

He said testing should have been reserved for those who were symptomatic and the unvaccinated, with individuals who had received two or three jabs receiving a “tick and pass” after touching down in the state.

“She’s put a whole lot of pressure on everybody else and caused a lot of people to miss their flights,” Mr Entsch told The Australian. “When you start to make these demands, you see these false negatives start to come through. You put on that much pressure and, of course, they are going to stuff up. They are going to make mistakes.”

Rapid tests, which can be bought at supermarkets for $10-$15 each, are self-administered.

The Queensland government was speaking with supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles on Monday to determine if there would be enough tests to meet demand. Australian Medical Association Queensland president Chris Perry said long queues were deterring symptomatic people from coming out to be swabbed.

“It does seem sensible that they go for the rapid test, it costs $10 and you have your result back in 15 or 20 minutes,” he said.

“If they want to slow the spread and find out who has it, don’t wait until January 1, I don’t know why they are waiting.”

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt on Monday joined the calls for the states to switch to rapid tests. Mr Hazzard and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet have announced plans to make rapid tests free for everyone in the state. The Victorian government has not denied placing a bulk order of rapid testing kits and said “if we can do more we will work to do more” when asked about the possibility of state-subsidised DIY testing. Mr Hunt on Monday backed the switch to rapid testing.

“We encourage those states who do require a PCR test for travel to rethink those requirements and move towards rapid antigen testing instead,” a spokesman for Mr Hunt said.

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said that while rapid antigen tests were not the “complete answer” due to accuracy concerns, they had a role to play in monitoring infections in high prevalence environments such as workplaces.

“They have a place in repeated testing and could be used in a high prevalence environment to determine when people can come to work after exposure,” he said. “This could help businesses survive an exposure event.”

University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely said he supported the “very rational decision” by the SA and Queensland governments to move toward screen interstate arrivals with rapid antigen tests rather than a conventional PCR test.

“Those states and territories that are no longer trying to keep numbers really low – which includes WA, NT and Tasmania – should move to rapid antigen tests as the marginally better test is not worth it when you’re waiting three days for a result,” he said.

Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws said Australia was behind the rest of the world when it came to its reliance on PCR tests.