9/27/2021- 12:27 p.m.
Australians can finally take a Covid test on their own without leaving their home, with results in just 20 minutes.
Rapid antigen tests – which can be performed on their own and have been used in many other countries since the beginning of the year – will be available in Australia from November 1.
Current PCR tests require a medical professional to administer them, resulting in long queues of hundreds of meters at test centers across the country, with the results processed in labs.
The rapid antigen tests provide a much faster way to test for Covid than traditional PCR testsThe tests have been used in other countries for months, but the introduction in Australia was postponed until vaccination rates increased.
The tests have been used in other countries for months, but the introduction in Australia was postponed until vaccination rates increased.
But that will no longer be the case, nor will there be days of quarantine waiting for a negative test that confirmed the result within half an hour.
The specific versions of the rapid antigen test kits have yet to be approved for use by the consumer health watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration.TGA chief professor John Skerrit said they were working with state and territory leaders to quickly get the tests approved for use and a review of the data was underway.
“It is expected that 70 per cent of Australians across the country will be double vaccinated, bringing phase B of the national plan into effect at the end of October,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“That is why there will be a new regulation… which will allow the sale and use of home tests after November 1, 2021.”The test was previously available in Australia, but on the condition that they be administered by a health professional.
Abroad, the kits, which look like pregnancy tests, have been in use for many months to help with returning to the workplace safely and traveling abroad.
The tests in Britain are so readily available that people have started using them before visiting elderly relatives or going out for a night out.
The 20-minute tests are do-it-yourself, eliminating queues at test centers (Albert Park test center in Melbourne in July)On Monday, Professor Skerrit said the government had deliberately delayed testing in Australia until vaccination rates were higher.
He said the likelihood of false negatives or people hiding test results was less critical when most of the population was vaccinated.
“If you’re on a plane full of people going on holiday to Cairns, and someone has lied about or kept quiet about a positive rapid antigen test, then it’s less of a problem if 80 percent of the people on that plane have been vaccinated.” ,’ he said.
The rapid antigen tests are less accurate than the PCR tests, with some experts warning of false results.
