The drive-through testing facility in Kambah will be reopened today as the ACT Government moves to increase COVID testing capacity across Canberra, particularly on the southside.
Since the first COVID case in the current ACT outbreak was detected last week, testing capacity has been increasing to meet the surge in demand as case numbers and exposure sites grow.
There are currently no COVID cases hospitalised in the ACT.
On Sunday, 5,723 tests were conducted across ACT, which, according to Chief Minister Andrew Barr, gives “a very clear picture of where the virus is” when combined with the 6,000 tests conducted on Saturday.
On the first full day of lockdown, Friday 13 August, just over 4,500 tests were completed across ACT Health and private testing administrators.
There are now thousands of close contacts and a growing list of over 45 exposure sites; more than 6,500 people have self-identified as close contacts.
While to the eye 6,000 tests a day might seem modest compared to the numbers put up by NSW or Victoria, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the effort is gargantuan, especially given we’re not even a week into lockdown.
“6,000 tests in ACT are equivalent of 125,000 tests in NSW or 100,000 tests in Victoria,” Mr Barr said.
“It took NSW seven weeks to reach those numbers.
“It’s a massive testing effort across multiple sites and we continue to stand up additional capacity.”
Testing capacity across Canberra has scaled up significantly in the wake of the lockdown and amidst growing case numbers.
Yesterday it was announced the Inner North Walk-in Centre in Dickson has been temporarily closed for most services to redeploy staff to further boost the COVID testing capacity across Canberra. However, maternal and child health services will continue at the Dickson centre.
Currently testing is available at four testing sites and two private pathology collection centres across the capital, with Kambah drive-through testing facility at Jenke Circuit to come back online today.
The capacity for drive-through testing at EPIC was also expanded over the weekend to effectively allow for one test to be conducted every 30 seconds, up from one test every 45 seconds on Friday.
“We have been progressively adding to the capacity of our existing centres and opening new ones as well as onsite pop-up testing associated with school outbreaks,” Mr Barr said.
An outreach team has been deployed to Greenway Views Village retirement home in the wake of the ACT’s first COVID case at an aged care or retirement home.
All residents and staff onsite will be tested by the team, with staff from Canberra Hospital, Calvary Public and Canberra Health Services (CHS) deployed to provide 24/7 care at the facility.
Dedicated, prioritised testing windows have also been established at Gold Creek and Brindabella in the wake of a COVID case detected amongst the student body at Lyneham High.
If you’re looking to get tested, Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith advised checking the ACT Government’s COVID-19 website and/or the social media feed of ACT Health and CHS to get an idea of waiting times.
“We increased capacity at all testing sites over weekend to reduce waiting times but continue to see waiting times vary across sites each day,” she said.
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