Australian health authorities ask universities to hunt down coronavirus testing material
Health authorities have privately asked Australian universities to search their campuses for material that could be used to prevent Covid-19 testing shortages.
Brendan Murphy, the chief medical officer, has warned of “extreme pressures” on Covid-19 testing kits, swabs, and the chemical reagents used to extract the genetic material critical to the testing process.
Australia has now conducted more than 160,000 Covid-19 tests, a relatively high number compared to other nations.
But both Murphy and the World Health Organization say a stronger testing regime, with broader testing criteria, is needed to effectively slow the spread of Covid-19.
Australia’s ability to test more broadly has been hampered by pressure on the stocks of testing material available.
The Guardian has learned that last week Australian universities were asked to search their campuses for stores of flocked swabs, nucleic acid extraction kits, and PCR instruments, which help amplify and detect genetic material. They were also asked to identify any capability to produce the primers and probes used in PCR instruments.
Universities were asked to report back to the chief medical officer, detailing their available supplies.
Correspondence from within the University of Queensland suggests its academics were doubtful they held any such supplies.
“Institutions have been asked to report on stores of reagents to the chief medical officer as they are needed for Covid-19 testing, and there are shortages,” UQ’s pharmaceutical academics were told.
“The faculty realises that for most, perhaps all, of you it is very unlikely you will have stores of [the] reagents in question.”
A health spokeswoman confirmed the department was conducting contingency planning to deal with compromised global supply chains caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The department is exploring a number of possible pathology resources including through the university sector,” she said. “This is consistent with contingency planning for pandemic response when global supply chains are uncertain and may be compromised.”
Universities are not the only ones being asked to supply the government with testing material.
Last week, the government issued an urgent callout to industry – both in Australia and abroad – to identify companies who could manufacture swabs.
Companies were asked to provide “nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal swabs which will be suitable for Covid-19 sample collection”, tender records show.
Potential suppliers were given until midday Wednesday to express their interest, and the government will immediately begin asking for quotes once the expression of interest process is complete.
“The [expression of interest] will provide us with an understanding of domestic suppliers, as well as potential new suppliers internationally,” the industry department said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the Guardian revealed that Murphy had written directly to GPs, warning them of the strain on supplies of testing material and personal protective equipment.
“Unfortunately, the extreme pressure on our personal protective equipment stocks continues, and the situation regarding pathology test kits, reagents and swabs is deteriorating rapidly, with kits no longer being available in some regions of the country,” Murphy wrote.
“Pathology collection centres have also experienced large backlogs in testing appointments in some parts of Australia, and emergency testing facilities have had to be established in some areas to ensure that urgent patients can get access to testing.”
Australia has since received significant stocks of testing kits. The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, confirmed that an additional 63,000 coronavirus test kits had arrived on Tuesday and almost 100,000 were received in the past week.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has also approved four companies to supply a different type of test to Australia.
That test – an initial screening test – detects antibodies deployed by the body to fight the virus, and does not need laboratory process. Some experts have voiced concern about that method of testing, because antibodies only emerge some days after symptoms appear.
But the TGA said its expedited approval of the testing kits was “based on evidence provided to the TGA at the time of application”, and the health department and World Health Organization
say that antibody testing has merit and could prove important in tackling the pandemic.
One of the companies that secured TGA approval is Melbourne-based MD Solutions, which will begin importing the tests within a fortnight. The company plans to supply about 500,000 kits in its initial shipment.