Canberrans have been urged to check waiting times at government-run Covid testing clinics before joining the queues, with demand again increasing in the ACT.
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People in the line at the Exhibition Park drive-through testing clinic have reported waiting more than four hours for a test on Monday.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said testing capacity at all sites had been increased over the weekend.
"We continue to see waiting times vary across our sites throughout each day. If you are leaving home to go and get tested, I would strongly encourage you to check the website and social media feed in particular of ACT Health," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
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Streamlined testing has been established for close contacts identified at the Lyneham High School and Instrumental Music program rehearsal room exposure site.
Some people in the line at the Brindabella testing clinic have been directed to Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan, to free up the Brindabella clinic for priority testing for the Lyneham High School community.
The ACT collected 5723 tests on Sunday.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Monday said the ACT had significantly upscaled its testing capacity, but asked for some patience and understanding.
"To put this in perspective, 6000 tests in the ACT is the equivalent of around 125,000 tests in NSW or around 100,000 in Victoria, or around 65,000 tests in Queensland. It's a massive testing effort," Mr Barr said.
The Chief Minister said NSW took seven weeks to get to the capacity it had now.
"In the first few days of their outbreak people were waiting 18 hours to get tested. In Fairfield, for example. We are deploying all of the resources that we can," he said.
Wait times eased on Saturday when an extra lane was opened at EPIC, which meant a swab could be taken every 30 seconds.
Defence will provide 16 clinicians to assist in public ACT Covid testing clinics as required from Monday.
Ms Stephen-Smith on Sunday thanked the Commonwealth and Defence for responding to the request quickly.
"Those staff will be deployed through ACT Health and they'll be embedded with Canberra Health Services clinical teams to assist with the testing," she said.
The Health Minister at the weekend said talks to bring medical students in to help with testing clinics were still ongoing.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
