Be quick to grab a RAT

TOWNSVILLE residents who have been designated close contacts will have to move quickly to secure a rapid antigen test through the Townsville Hospital and Health Service’s testing facilities.

A limited supply of the highly-prized testing kits will be made available and distributed through Townsville University Hospital-administrated testing sites on Thursday morning. Townsville Hospital and Health Service chief executive officer Kieran Keyes said only 3500 kits would be available initially.

‘‘Due to the small number of kits available at this time, supplies are expected to last for only a very short time however, we expect more RAT kits to arrive in coming weeks,’’ Mr Keyes said

‘‘Those eligible to receive a RAT from our testing locations are people who have Covid-19 symptoms or those who are a close contact of a confirmed Covid-19 case and are on day six of their quarantine.”

Symptomatic people who want to undergo a test to determine their status will still be able to elect to have a PCR test at the testing stations.

‘‘The national definition of close contact is someone who is a household member or a household-like contact of a diagnosed person,” Mr Keyes said.

‘‘It’s important that we don’t clog the testing lines”

Mr Keyes said the hospital and the wider community would continue to struggle to source testing kits in the short term, but more were on the way.

“We know the past few weeks have been challenging and this will continue due to the very limited supply of RATS for local retailers and for our health service,” Mr Keyes said.

“Once supply has stabilised, we would encourage people who opt for a RAT but don’t meet our eligibility to buy their own kit from a supermarket or pharmacy.”

Procedures at the testing facilities will change in order to accommodate the newly available tests.

‘‘We expect our testing locations will experience high demand following the arrivals of the RATS and we ask that everyone is patient with our staff,” Mr Keyes said.

‘‘Testing lines will be split into two different categories from Thursday with those seeking a RAT forming one line and those seeking a PCR test in another,’’ Mr Keyes said.

Federally-funded RATS for concession card holders as part of the government’s decision made at the start of the year around availability will also come soon.

‘‘Once available, concession card holders will be able to get these free tests at pharmacies and we will keep the community updated on this as we know more.’’