Coronavirus

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:10): Yes, I do, thank you, Mr President. Can the minister explain this rapid type of test? What are they, how do they work, and do they meet the appropriate approvals and standards? Also, is testing going to be extended into aged and residential care facilities?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his question. In relation to the rapid testing service, it is based on a network of equipment that is, as I understand it, already present in South Australian hospitals. My recollection is that in the first year of this government, we provided point-of-care testing for influenza at some of our metropolitan hospitals. My understanding is that point-of-care testing is available in different parts of the state, but, to be able to use it for COVID-19, specific capsules need to be used.

If my recollection serves me correctly, we needed to acquire 400 capsules. SA Pathology has installed rapid testing instruments throughout the state laboratory network and SA Pathology has received its first shipment of 400 cartridges, which is required to commence the testing. I should stress that it is not intended that the rapid testing replace the standard PCR testing that we do through our dedicated clinics. These particular tests are significantly more expensive than a standard clinic test. The value of it is obviously the quick turnaround.

I am advised that it is helpful in terms of responding to people who are clinically unwell. For example, if you can quickly identify whether or not a person may be carrying infectious disease, that would change the way you manage the patient within the facility. But, obviously, it has obvious relevance to contact tracing. If we can test a person who may be positive for COVID-19 and within an hour find out whether or not they are, it will give us an opportunity earlier to engage with case tracing, contacting potential contacts of that person and to, if you like, bring forward the isolation period. To be frank, you bring forward the isolation period not just for the person who proves positive but also all their confirmed contacts.

Also, I think it is an important part of ensuring that the testing is not burdensome on people. I do want to pay tribute to the extraordinary commitment of the people of South Australia in cooperating with the public health effort by continuing to put themselves forward. I saw figures earlier today that were highlighting the presentations for COVID-19 testing in recent days. For example, on the basis of the information I have, there were more than 1,600 people who were tested in South Australia yesterday, on 11 May.

We have not tested that number of people since 22 April. In other words, in spite of the fact that there are fewer cases in South Australia than there have been in previous weeks, South Australians are still heeding the advice of the public health clinicians, and with relatively mild symptoms are presenting themselves for testing. That wasn't just a one-day wonder. To be frank, the weekdays of last week all exceeded 1,300. Right through the pandemic that would be regarded as a good day. We had five good days last week and another good day yesterday. The fact that we had no cases identified through those testing days illustrates, I think, the continued strong community support for the public health response in this pandemic.

The honourable member also asked me to address whether or not we were doing anything to help protect aged-care residents. The government has had what I would call a round table of aged-care providers that we have been meeting with regularly since we came to government. It is not an area that we fund, but it is an area we care about and an area that has a significant interface with the health system. Our relationship took on added poignancy earlier this year when the pandemic started, because right from day one the risk to aged-care residents and workers was recognised.

At one of the earliest health minister's conferences we had in the context of the pandemic, four particular risk groups were identified, and one of those was people in aged care. That has been borne out by the pandemic. One thing America and Australia share in common is that we have had approximately one-third of our deaths from COVID-19 being residents of aged-care facilities. Thank God, one-third of deaths in Australia is 27 deaths out of a total of 97. I say 'thank God' because America has had 26,000 deaths in aged-care facilities. This is a human tragedy of unparalleled significance, in my lifetime at least, and our responsibility to help protect our aged-care workers and residents is significant.

In terms of what we are doing, only this week SA Pathology announced it had established a rapid response team to deal with any outbreaks in aged-care facilities in South Australia, and for that matter any residential facility. The public health team has identified that not only is aged care a site where the risk is high but also a whole range of residential facilities, for example, prisons, boarding houses and supported residential facilities. I know the honourable Minister for Human Services and I have had ongoing conversations about the challenges in disability facilities.

This SA Pathology team is a team of both nurses and phlebotomists who will be ready to rapidly go into a facility in the event of an outbreak and test as many people as need to be tested, both staff and residents. It gets back to the issue I was raising in relation to point-of-care testing: to get an early read about what is happening in a facility is very important because if we need to respond to a case we need to make sure that that case doesn't become a cluster and that cluster doesn't become a community outbreak. So SA Pathology, together with a broader SA Health team, is working with aged-care facilities to make sure we are ready for any case or cluster that might emerge.