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AUSTRALIA-VIRUS-TEST
Australian doctors warn of unreliable rapid coronavirus tests
CANBERRA, Oct 2,2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – Australian doctors have warned against rapid coronavirus tests, saying they are unreliable.
The country’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in late September approved COVID-19 tests that can produce results in 15 minutes compared to a day or more for conventional tests.
However, Michael Dray — the President of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) — said on Friday that the tests accurately detect COVID-19 in between only 50 and 94 percent of cases.
He told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television that Australia should seek to test properly rather than quickly.
“At best, six out of 100 tests are going to read negative, when we know they should be positive,” he said.
“Now that has implications if you’re making decisions as to where people can go, whether they need quarantining.
“If six percent of those tests are negative, you’re exposing people to being infected when they needn’t be.”
As of Friday evening there had been 27,113 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, with a total of 16 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours.
Victoria confirmed seven new cases and two more deaths, taking the national death toll to 890 and the state’s to 802. The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Australia has fallen to 335.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/1921 hrs