A NSW government MP wants PCR tests for travel into Queensland abolished after waiting times soared at testing clinics on the first day of eased border restrictions.
A Mid North Coast MP has called for COVID-19 PCR testing for travel into Queensland to be abolished after waiting times to get a test soared.Coffs Harbour MP says Queensland should let people without symptoms in without a COVID testHealth authorities say there should be no change to the time for test results
Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh says the testing is an unnecessary requirement by the Queensland government."This whole 72-hour-test-before, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense and it would have been more sensible for Queensland just to allow people to come on up and get a test if they have any symptoms."
Testing clinics across the Mid North Coast have been inundated by cars full of families making their way north on the first day after Queensland's border reopened to New South Wales.Officials at the Coffs Harbour Stadium drive-through clinic warned of wait times of up to three hours, as they worked to administer more than double the amount of tests as this time last week.
Among those waiting in line for more than three hours today were Krishna Ellis from Sawtell and her two adult children."We saw number plates from Queensland, Victoria, the ACT, and even the Northern Territory. There were entire families in cars full of luggage and 4WDs with boats on the top," she said.
More than 4,700 tests were conducted across the Mid North Coast local health district last week with 1,571 of those on the Saturday and Sunday before the border reopened — a big jump on the previous weekend's 775 tests.
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