Covid Australia: Today is the LAST day you can be guaranteed a PCR result by Christmas

Australians need to get swabbed for Covid by Wednesday morning at the latest to receive a negative result by Christmas Day as the holiday rush inundates testing clinics. 

In NSW, more than 426,000 residents have showed up at PCR Covid testing centres since Friday – including 137,000 in the 24 hours to Monday night alone.

NSW Health has warned those waiting for their sample could be waiting up to 72 hours for a result, rather than the standard 48 hours.

The backlog could be disastrous for those who want to be tested before seeing vulnerable relatives on Christmas Day, or who need to travel interstate and require a negative test result within three days of departure. 

The Albert Park testing clinic in Melbourne was at capacity about 6am on Wednesday, with the queue first forming at 4.30am.

The clinic, which didn’t open until 7am, was forced to turn away hundreds and tell them to try another centre or come back at a different time.

Wait times are also still high in Sydney in the run-up to Christmas, with the drive-through queue at North Ryde in the city’s north-west backing up onto the M2 motorway.

Frustrated Sydneysiders took to social media to vent their frustration at the slow turnaround times, which for many was preventing them from travelling away for the holiday season.

‘I’ve been at three different places in the last two days and people are turning around in droves,’ one person wrote.

‘Stop tests being allowed for interstate travel. It should be for symptomatic and case contacts only,’ another said.

The 72-wait times for some mean those wanting a negative result by Christmas Day morning need to get swabbed by Wednesday morning.

In South Australia on Tuesday the wait for a test overnight was as long as nine hours.

Cars snaked through Victoria Park in central Adelaide, with one motorist saying he waited from 10.30pm Monday until about 8am Tuesday to reach the front of the line.   

SA Premier Steven Marshall hours later ditched testing on arrival rules for interstate travellers, as long as they don’t have symptoms, after the long lines sparked outrage. 

However visitors from NSW, Victoria and the ACT still need a negative test within 72 hours of arriving into SA. 

Deakin University Chair in Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett told Daily Mail Australia states needed to shift away from requiring interstate travellers to test negative before departure.

‘The issue we have is the longer the wait times are, the less immediate the result,’ she said.

‘Unless you then isolate until Christmas Day, the test would only tell you what you have today – not in three days time.’

Professor Bennett urged those eager to know if they have Covid before seeing a vulnerable relative to combine their PCR test with multiple rapid antigen tests in the days before December 25. 

She said the long queues of Covid-free Australians waiting for a test were taking away capacity for those who were sick and may actually have the virus.

‘It’s overloading our testing system – we have to find other ways to manage the borders,’ she said.

Professor Bennett said she expected state and federal leaders to discuss winding back testing requirements at an emergency national cabinet meeting on Wednesday. 

One woman waiting for a test in the Victorian capital earlier admitted she had left it late to get swabbed, given she needed to fly interstate with a negative test the next day.

‘I waited for two and a half hours yesterday so thought I’d come her early today to try and get in this time,’ she told 10 News Melbourne. 

‘I’m about to see my family tomorrow interstate so I had to get tested within 72 hours – I really need that negative test.’ 

Meanwhile, pharmacies and shops are running out of rapid antigen tests as residents race to prove they are Covid-free without the hassle of an official PCR test.

National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Trent Twomey says there are sufficient supplies in Australia but they need to be distributed to where demand is greatest.

‘They are all at their major distribution hubs which are down in Victoria,’ he told the Nine Network on Tuesday.

Pharmacies would get more deliveries by Wednesday.

‘They assure us over the next 24 hours there will be trucks and ships and trains and all sorts of things getting that stock out of major distribution hubs in Melbourne out to the rest of the states and territories,’ he said.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant is urging caution this Christmas and recommended people take a rapid antigen test before going to an indoor gathering.

‘Choose outdoor, well-ventilated places for gatherings and limit the size of those gatherings,’ she said.

Victorian health authorities offered similar advice, recommending outdoor Christmas celebrations and limiting indoor gatherings to less than four hours.

‘Have Christmas on the verandah or reduce your time inside a house with others to less than four hours,’ a Victoria Department of Health statement read.

‘You may still have to get tested but your time in isolation will be shorter.’

The testing chaos comes as NSW’s Covid-19 cases again exploded on  Tuesday with  3,057 new infections, the state’s highest spike in daily infections since the pandemic began.

Two deaths were also recorded as NSW recorded a spike of more than 500 cases recorded 24 hours earlier.

Hospitalisations are also on the rise with 284 cases admitted, including 39 in intensive care.

Victoria recorded 1245 cases and six deaths on Tuesday, slightly down from 1,302 infections reported on Monday.

Around 392 cases are being treated in hospital, including 73 in intensive care. 

NSW remains agonising close to the 95 per cent vaccination milestone with 94.9 per cent of over-16s having had one dose and 93.4 per cent now double-vaxxed.

Almost 137,000 residents came forward for testing on Monday, placing overwhelming demand on testing clinics with some sites running out of swabs.