As cases of the Omicron variant continue to climb in the Northern Territory, reliance on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests has shifted significantly, but experts warn the 'gold standard' shouldn't be scrapped just yet.
Especially when there is a critical shortage of the alternative rapid antigen tests (RATs).
Close contacts, not including frontline health staff, are no longer able to get a PCR test in Katherine unless it's pre-arranged by a doctor or booked online, as laboratories struggle to analyse high volumes.
Instead, authorities are handing out hard-to-come-by RATs.
It comes less than a month after Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced the government would expand the use of rapid antigen testing, so that Territorians would not be stuck in queues or in isolation any longer than they needed to be.
"At the scale we are at now, with hundreds of new cases a day, the margin of error with RATs is not a big issue," he said at the time.
The Katherine region recorded 68 new cases and, across the Territory, 174 patients are in hospital, with 28 of those requiring oxygen.
"If a person's doctor wishes for them to have a PCR test then the doctor can arrange it via the NT Health testing teams or private labs," a government spokesman told the ABC.
Experts say access to both tests important
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia president, Dr Megan Belot, said despite the rapidly changing landscape it was still important for people to have access to both PCRs and RATs.
She said PCR tests were widely considered the most accurate and sensitive for detecting the virus that causes COVID-19, while the benefit of RATs was their speed.
"And so, it's really a matter of finding a happy medium.
"You don't want to overwhelm the PCR testing capability, because then people are waiting days for the results … that makes it a lot harder with contact tracing [and it keeps people] in isolation longer than they need to be if they're negative."
Dr Belot said while sights were now set on RATs as a key weapon in the fight against Omicron, concerns remained over their accuracy and the false sense of security that could bring.
"There are a lot of variable factors [including] whether or not the patient has actually done the test correctly, and that they've got a true negative result," she said.
Dr Peter Spafford, a former GP in Katherine, questioned whether the driving forces behind the shift away from PCRs came down to costs.
He said the option for a test with a better "pick up" was critical, especially for people in contact or living with older generations or people who were immunocompromised.
On order since December
In Katherine's two pharmacies, the shelves are bare of coveted RATs, and people have been desperately searching for them.
"Daily we have people calling up or coming in and asking if we have tests," PharmaSave manager Rebecca Paine said.
"Ever since December we haven't been able to get them."
