Where you can find rapid Covid tests in Greater Brisbane and Ipswich

Thousands of promised rapid antigen tests still have not arrived at leading Southeast Queensland chemists, as they become even harder to track down. MORE DETAILS HERE.

Maddie Manwaring and Madeline Grace

4 min read

January 18, 2022 - 3:53PM

Quest Newspapers

Australia experiences rapid antigen test supply shortage

Regional News

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Thousands of promised rapid antigen tests have still not arrived at leading southeast Queensland pharmacies, with the product almost impossible to track down.

The shortage comes as Queensland recorded 16 Covid-19 deaths overnight on the state’s worst day of the entire pandemic.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath earlier today said 15,962 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the past 24 hours.

There was also an increase in hospital admissions, with more than 800 people now in wards for Covid-related illnesses.

New restrictions on the number of people who can visit hospital wards have been implemented, with only two people per ward allowed and only one person – aside from the patient – allowed in emergency departments.

Three of the people who died were in their 70s, eight were aged in their 80s, four in their 90s and one person was older than 100.
Of those who died, 10 people were double-vaccinated against Covid-19, two had one dose of vaccine and four were not vaccinated, according to health officials.

None of them had received a booster shot and nine of them were in residential aged care.

A total of 819 people are now in Queensland hospitals with Covid-19, with 50 people in the intensive care unit.

Of those 50 people, 18 of them are on ventilators.

COVID-19 rapid antigen test. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nicholas Eagar

A Brisbane Priceline employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said they still had no rapid antigen tests (RATs) despite having ordered some months ago.

“We have ordered like over 2000 about a month or two ago and nothing has come in,” they said.

“We paid already.”

The employee said they were repeatedly told they were supposed to be having ‘more stock arriving today or tomorrow’, but they said this has now been going on for weeks with no RATs in site.

“The delays are f***ed,” they said.

Another Priceline employee, who also asked to remain anonymous, said the promised RATs never arrive and they were just as much in the dark as everyone else.

“We have orders on the way but no dates about when they are coming,” they said.

“Before everyone went crazy for tests we got our allocated tests sent to the store which was organised by Priceline head office.”

Chemists are understood to be ‘collapsing’ under the pressure of dealing with 100 calls an hour from people trying to find Covid RATs and they can’t source either the tests or the Covid vaccines they need to carry out the booster rollout.

More than nine in 10 chemists surveyed by the Professional Pharmacists Australia union say they cannot get hold of the RATs they need to order to meet demand.

Chemist Warehouse chief Mario Tassone has told News Corp it takes three to four weeks after ordering the tests for them to arrive in chemist shops.

His company received a shipment of 200,000 tests on the weekend but he said they were gone within the first five minutes of shops opening on Monday.

The survey also found that 79 per cent of pharmacists believed their workplace was not adequately staffed to deal with the additional demands being placed on it, with many citing high employee absentee rates due to Covid-19 infection or isolation requirements.

In response to PCR testing sites being overwhelmed and rapid antigen tests flying off the shelves, software agency PipeLabs launched the website ‘Find a RAT’ to crowdsource the location of rapid tests. Picture: findarat.com.au

It was recently revealed that Chemist Warehouse has been rationing out the few remaining RATs at local stores.

A shopper said she was recently at the Browns Plains store where she claimed they were only selling two tests per person.

An employee that answered the phone at that chemist today said they had no stock, but if or when they received some, there would be a limit of one RAT per person.

A crowdsourced website called ‘Find a RAT’ has been keeping Brisbane locals up to date with where they can track down rapid tests.

As of today the website is indicating there are no RATs for sale anywhere near Brisbane.

The website shows only three chemists in Queensland have been reported by shoppers to have RATs for sale. These are in Toowoomba, Cairns, and Inglewood.

In response to PCR testing sites being overwhelmed and rapid antigen tests flying off the shelves, software agency PipeLabs launched the Find a RAT website to crowdsource the location of rapid tests.

Anyone can upload chemists or supermarkets where they have seen the tests in stock.

Users can search by postcodes to find where the nearest tests are available.

The map marks area in green if they have stock, yellow if they are low on stock and red for stores that have sold out.

EARLIER:

We’ve compiled a list of shops where you might be able to find rapid antigen tests across the Greater Brisbane and Ipswich regions, accurate as of January 4.