Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: PCR testing delays of 16 days revealed

Some PCR tests done in late February took more than 16 days to be returned, new data can reveal.

Experts have deemed the delays ridiculous and unacceptable, but also believe it contributed to a higher growth rate of the Omicron outbreak and deprived sick New Zealanders of necessary clinical and welfare support.

The NZ Herald asked the Ministry of Health how long it took between tests getting logged into its eOrder register and receiving a result during the opening months of the community Omicron outbreak. We requested daily breakdowns of how long it took to get half the results returned and also for 90 per cent of tests.

Auckland health officials soon began asking those without symptoms to stay away from testing centres. Photo / Alex Burton

More details are required for a test to be entered into the eOrder system and as such, only those done in primary care - GPs and community centres - are logged, making up roughly 25 per cent of daily tests.

In late January, most tests were being returned within two to three days. By February 27, that delay had grown to almost nine days.

The ministry data showed that 10 per cent of tests being returned on March 5 had been done more than 16 days prior.

By March 6, half of all tests done at GPs and community centres had taken 12 days for a result to be returned.

"Sixteen days, that's ridiculous to be frank," NZ Institute of Medical Laboratory Science president Terry Taylor said.

"You're wasting your time doing them outside the bounds when the specimens are no good to use anyway."

The delays corresponded with a switch from pooled to non-pooled testing. Pooled testing enabled more swabs to processed at one time, an effective tool when case numbers were low.

However, when infections rose, more tests needed to be processed individually - drastically reducing the national processing capacity of about 60,000 to about 25,000.

At the time, Auckland health officials were pleading those without symptoms not to seek a test as to lessen the pressure being felt in laboratories.

Long testing queues often caused havoc on Auckland streets. Photo / Michael Craig

The delays prompted an apology from director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and sparked an independent review, the findings of which are expected by the end of the month.

Taylor said unprocessed tests were often disposed of after five to six days, indicating how wasteful it was to process tests after 16 days.

"All this is doing is ticking boxes really; that's all this exercise was for me.

"If it was any other test, we'd be throwing the samples away."

He said laboratory staff would have been left scarred by how busy that period was.

"The staff basically got sacrificed for it, even though we warned and warned, and that's just so unfair."

Covid-10 Modelling Aotearoa's Dr Dion O'Neale. Photo / Supplied

Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa's Dr Dion O'Neale said the delays meant there were no public health benefits from those people being tested, and also threatened their wellbeing.

"If you had severe symptoms, you probably assumed it was Covid anyway and in that case, you just didn't have support," he said.

It also could have meant those with mild symptoms - and their household contacts - continued interacting with others, increasing the risk of transmission.

"[I'm] pretty confident that you can attribute an increase in the growth rate [of the outbreak] to this thing of not being able to get information back to confirmed cases fast enough."

O'Neale said it was particularly frustrating given Australia experienced the same issue before Omicron spread in New Zealand.

"It really doesn't seem acceptable ... it's something that's been a known issue for so long."