The Department of Health has announced that Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will now be used as a diagnostic tool for the COVID-19 virus, with a compulsory registration system for positive test results.
Unveiling the arrangement, the Department said the State was beginning to experience a high caseload in which RAT tests were useful for quick results.
“However, we are urging Western Australians to keep utilising the PCR testing clinics as the priority, while clinics are able to manage the number of PCR tests required,” it said.
The Department said RATs were being distributed to all public COVID-19 testing clinics where they could be utilised if demand for PCR tests reached a peak.
“In addition, when demand for PCR tests exceeds capacity, RATs may be provided to people who present for a PCR test at a public clinic for them to utilise as their test later in their isolation period or at day seven, ahead of coming out of self-isolation,” it said.
“People who have self-administered a RAT test for COVID-19 at home or in the workplace and tested positive must register their result online with the Department of Health.”
Minister for Health, Amber-Jade Sanderson said PCR testing remained the recommended method as there was still plenty of capacity in the testing clinics.
“However, now that we have community transmission, there are times when it will be appropriate to take a Rapid Antigen Test and register your result,” Ms Sanderson said.
“It is vital anyone who does a RAT and receives a positive result registers their test with WA Health,” she said.
Ms Sanderson said this was a way of ensuring the important public health protocols that had kept Western Australians safe throughout the pandemic could continue to be followed.
