Australia left with massive stockpile of antigen rapid test kits as expiry looms

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At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian states and territories bought 518 million antigen rapid test kits – or about 20 for each of the country’s 26 million residents. | AsiaNewsNetwork

About 9 per cent of Queensland’s supply – or 3.47 million kits – have reportedly been thrown out or will expire in the coming three months. Queensland’s government is now considering the possibility of recycling the kits or donating them.

An expert on waste transformation, Professor Ali Abbas, told The Straits Times that excess unused ART kits can be treated as normal waste and recycled. In contrast, used kits cannot be recycled and are mostly incinerated due to the risk of contamination. There were large-scale shortages of ART kits when Australia experienced its first serious Covid-19 outbreak in late 2021. State governments were widely blamed at the time for failing to buy enough kits, which may have then prompted them to buy too many.

There are currently fewer than 2,000 Covid-19 patients in Australian hospitals, down from a peak of 3,593 on Jan 4. But fatalities are high, with 370 Covid-19-related deaths in the past week, down from a peak of 413 two weeks ago.

 

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