ACT Health has expanded its criteria for COVID-19 testing to include the residents of aged care facilities.
Chief Health Officer of the ACT, Kerryn Coleman said the move would align ACT testing efforts with those in NSW.
“This will further strengthen our ability to identify any possible community transmission,” Dr Coleman said.
Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith said the testing expansion was approved after ongoing consideration.
“People will also be able to be tested where they present with acute respiratory illness or fever and reported links to settings where COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred within Australia,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“This will be on the advice of ACT Health,” she said.
“This change takes into consideration the renewed supply of testing reagent, as well as the increase in the number of cases both in the ACT and across Australia.”
She said the new testing criteria would apply to travellers from overseas with onset of respiratory symptoms within 14 days of return; close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases with respiratory symptoms or fever within 14 days of last contact; healthcare workers with recent onset of respiratory symptoms and fever, irrespective of travel history; and patients admitted to hospital with acute respiratory illness or unexplained fever.
“Australia has one of the highest COVID-19 testing rates in the world, whether assessed in total number of tests, tests per million population or tests per number of confirmed cases,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
