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How does this happen - an Australian company wins $300M contract to supply the US with a rapid COVID test which gives results in 15 mins and manufacturing will move to the US but we won’t have access to it here in Australia.
Australian company signs $300m deal with US for COVID-19 tests
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscoDB
the 15min rapdi test didn't mean aust standards, so the govt didnt buy it
In my view he might have lived a bit longer if not in the care of his family - who takes a 100yo on a Christmas holiday to the Caribbean in the middle of a major COVID with recommendations in place not to travel. As a result of this trip he ends up with pneumonia which in turn prevents his Covid vaccination - then while bed ridden at his family home with his family, he someone catches COVID, so one of the family bring it into the home with a sick 100yo.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob10
RIP Sir Tom - you were an inspiration.
Garry
You have to pay to read that link so have not read that report.Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscoDB
If the reports I saw a few weeks back are correct, it is a self test kit and they are illegal in Australia.
Google it and you will find it in plenty of news stories.Quote:
Originally Posted by 101RRS
Yes strange it is illegal or does not meet Australian standards.
Sounds perfect for some pre-screening though followed by proper test if you have symptoms or been exposed to people who have COVID, and of course this would not replace current mandatory testing or when you have been directed to get a test.
For example could do 100% rapid testing before flying domestically rather than the current 0%.
Whilst testing remains optional for most of us, a rapid test could be a game changer for how we respond to an outbreak of 1 person.
At present states assume everyone is exposed if they visited a red zone but don’t always mandate testing - preferring lockdowns or border closures. They prefer to assume we are all infected by association not science.
This test is about 96% accurate - compared to about 99.9% for the PCR test as used here. Where there is low prevalence as here (typically single digit number of cases from 10,000 tests), it is worse than useless, as results will be misleading. In the USA, where testing rates compared to infection rates are so bad that 5-20% of tests are positive, it is well worthwhile.
Perhaps this is the explanation. Add to this that in most places in the USA you will have to pay for a test and wait 1-2 weeks for the result (here it is typically free and results within 24hrs), and it clearly has a place.
Not so, I and hundreds of others did one.Quote:
Originally Posted by 101RRS
Ok but as of yesterday this news report US grants $302 million contract to Brisbane bio-tech firm Ellume to produce at-home COVID tests - ABC News implies at home testing for Covid has not been approved in Australia "The kits will only be available to US citizens for now, with Australian authorities yet to approve at home coronavirus testing."Quote:
Originally Posted by V8Ian
It's the test that hasn't been approved, regardless of who conducts such.Quote:
Originally Posted by 101RRS
Yes, it's tragic. It is what it is. This monster disease respects no one. Now in Victoria there are concerns that the UK variant has infected a family who have had no community contact . They are saying the virus load was so high , that just by opening the door to collect food, was enough for transmission.Quote:
Originally Posted by 101RRS
It is understood genetic tracing revealed two guests on the same floor at the hotel have somehow transmitted the same British variant of the virus between the groups.
“That means it’s as if they have been in the same room together,” Victoria’s Police Minister Lisa Neville said on Wednesday.
“This is a hotel transmission, it is not a community transmission. The public health team … have indicated there is an exceptionally low risk of any community transmission.”
The manner in which the virus was likely transmitted points to how infectious the strain is.
“What the public health team believe is the … viral load in the room of the family of five … was so high that just even opening the door to pick up your food has seen the virus get into the corridor.
“The only reason that people open doors – there’s no interaction with staff – is to pick up their food or drop their old laundry out … because no one can enter their room.”