Elsie Adamo
RAPID antigen tests (RAT) will be vital to quickly track the spread of Covid-19, but the community will largely be left footing the bill for tests themselves.
At a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that free tests will be made available for concession card holders and identified symptomatic close contacts.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that free tests for all is off the table.
“Universal free access was not considered the right policy response by all of the State and Territories in attendance today, and the Commonwealth,” Mr Morrison said.
Concession card holders will be given 10 free tests over a three-month period through the pharmacy network, while close contacts can present at a testing centre for a free RAT.
“We hope to have that in place over the next fortnight,” Mr Morrison said.
“It may be able to be done more quickly than that, and we are working with the pharmacy guild to put that in place as soon as we can.
“The cost for those tests being provided concessionally will be met 50-50 by the States and Territories and the Commonwealth.”
There are 84 million tests on the way to Australia, ten million for South Australia, with the federal government again paying for half the bill.
But finding a test currently is difficult Australia wide.
The Prime Minister warned retailers against price gouging on tests, with anyone caught selling RATs for more than a 20 per cent markup to face fines of up to $66,000 or five-years imprisonment.
“They are not to be bought up and put on eBay and sold at extortionate prices and then sent overseas,” he says.
In a statement the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said “it was aware of the significant public concern about the pricing of rapid antigen tests and is contacting suppliers and monitoring the situation very closely.”
Premier Stephen Marshall said ahead of the cabinet meeting that tests for close contacts will evolve from PCR to RATs.
“I can confirm that sometime within the next week we are likely to move to RAT tests for close contacts,” Mr Marshall said.
“In the next couple of days we are going to be messaging how it is going to be implemented.”
Free PCR tests for anyone willing to wait in line will still be available to those who are not close contacts.
“People that are symptomatic in the general population, they are the ones we are really wanting to preserve our overall PCR capability for,” he said.
SA Shadow Health Minister Chris Picton said that the plan does not quite cut the mustard.
“Steven Marshall needs to stop his opposition to helping South Australians get access to free rapid antigen tests,” Mr Picton said.
“With lines for PCR tests up to 10 hours long and definitions of close contacts being wound back – rapid tests are more important than ever.
“Because of the bungled ban removal, they are currently as rare as hen’s teeth – and when you can find them they cost up to $90 for a 5-pack, a huge cost for families.”
