ACT health authorities unsure when more rapid antigen tests will arrive

The territory government has ordered 1.6 million rapid antigen tests but so far only 62,000 have been delivered.

The ACT reported a record 1860 new cases on Tuesday, including delayed test results amid a shortage of material needed to process laboratory tests. A Canberra woman in her 80s also died with COVID-19 at a residential aged care facility.

Health authorities said they are managing test supplies on a "day-by-day basis" and cannot provide any indication as to when supply will increase.

Testing sites have continued to grapple with both PCR and rapid antigen test shortages.

The Kambah drive through testing clinic only offered rapid antigen tests on Tuesday, however there was a limit of one test per person due to supply issues. Previously, people were able to get two test kits.

Capital Pathology testing clinics were closed again in Holt and Nicholls on Tuesday due to supply issues for materials needed to conduct PCR tests.

The supply difficulties have resulted in slow processing times for PCR tests.

"Capital Pathology continues to process a backlog of PCR tests collected from last week prior to the temporary closure of the Kambah, Nicholls and Holt testing centres," an ACT government spokeswoman said.

The remaining outstanding tests were expected to be processed on Tuesday.

The bulk of the 1.6 million rapid antigen tests were ordered at the start of the year, and include a purchase of about 1 million tests from NSW but only 48,000 tests from that order have arrived.

ACT health authorities don't know when more rapid antigen tests are expected.

"Dates for the delivery of rapid antigen tests are unconfirmed at this time. We are managing supplies on a day-by-day basis," the government spokeswoman said.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr told The Canberra Times last week that rapid antigen tests were arriving later than they should be but he expected supply to increase over the next fortnight.

ACT Health did not directly answer questions about whether there were plans to order more rapid antigen tests in the coming weeks.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Tuesday the Commonwealth would supply an additional 10 million rapid antigen tests to states and territories and 3 million tests to the aged care sector.

"We have already provided 5.6 million rapid antigen tests [to the aged care sector], another 100,000 today which will take to 5.7 million and a further three million to come," Mr Hunt said.

Chemists are also continuing to struggle with rapid antigen test supplies, with the peak body for pharmacists estimating shortages until Valentine's Day.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia said that 1.2 million rapid tests arrived in the country on Monday and an additional 10 million are expected this week.

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Rapid antigen test wholesalers and distributors have chartered additional planes to get more tests into Australia, with more staff employed to meet demand.

Staff are working 24 hours a day and seven days a week to keep up with international needs.

Each individual pharmacy is responsible for ordering in stock, with sudden announcements often catching local chemists off guard.

A survey from Professional Pharmacists Australia found that more than 90 per cent of pharmacists have reported difficulties in sourcing rapid antigen tests.

Seventy-five per cent also said the workload associated with providing rapid antigen tests was having an extreme impact.

The chief executive of Professionals Australia, which represents employee pharmacists, said the situation was beyond dire.

"Pharmacists are telling us they are extremely overworked and under significant pressure and that they do not have the supplies and equipment they need to do their jobs properly," Jill McCabe said.

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