After resisting demands to make Rapid Antigen Test (RATs) free, as is the case in several other countries, Scott Morrison has agreed to “concessional access” for low-income and vulnerable Australians, following pressure from the state premiers during an emergency National Cabinet meeting on January 5. Under the new agreement, a maximum of 10 RATs will be available for free over a three-month period for people with concession cards, including low-income cards, DVA white and gold cards, seniors cards and special medical cards. Outbreaks in remote or First Nations communities, where access to testing is limited, will be supplied with free tests by the federal government as needed, the PM said.
While Morrison insisted that “universal free access” to RATs for all Australians was ruled out, he did confirm that legal measures under the Biosecurity Act were being introduced to prevent price gouging, which has become a major issue across the country. Retailers found to be making more than a 20 per cent mark up on the wholesale value of a test will be liable for a maximum fine of $66,000 and up to five years in prison.
Anti-hoarding measures will also be introduced, with purchases limited to one box of testing kits per person, per purchase. “The boxes come in as boxes of 25. You can buy one. That is what you can do. They will be administered and monitored by the retail industry themselves and many of them are already doing that right now. It includes the supermarkets where they already have those rules in place,” Morrison said. People who are close contacts or who are symptomatic should not seek a RAT test, but rather go directly for a PCR test instead, to prevent possible transmission of the virus in pharmacies and supermarkets.
Federal and state health experts have previously resisted the widespread use of RATs, citing the inaccuracy of results compared to the more reliable PCR test. However, the new testing strategy will now put a far greater emphasis on RATs in the coming months.
Delays on results from PCR tests have reached backlogs of more than a week in some areas of the country, so measures to ease pressure on PCR testing facilities will be introduced. PCR tests will no longer be required to confirm a diagnosis of a positive RAT test, and surveillance testing for truck drivers interstate, which were required once a week, will no longer be needed. People who are going into hospital for other kinds of medical treatment will no longer need to provide a negative result before their visit, and arriving travellers from overseas will also no longer need to take a second PCR test after their arrival, apart from in Queensland, which will require a second test until 90 per cent of the local adult population has been fully vaccinated.
A negative RAT before travelling interstate to Queensland or Tasmania will also be retired within the next few weeks. Western Australia will not be adopting these measures, however, with the prime minister saying that the situation in that state was very different to the rest of the country.
While a far greater role for RATs in the daily life of Australians is becoming clearer, Morrison admitted that supplies of RATs in Australia were currently limited, and while more 70 million testing kits have been ordered for Australia, it would be “a few weeks” before they arrived.