CORONAVIRUS — RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS
163. Hon
MARTIN ALDRIDGE to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for
Health:
I refer to the state government's
commitment to provide 15 rapid antigen tests—RATs—to each
household in Western Australia and the state government's commitment to
prioritise their delivery to regional households.
(1) How many
households have ordered their test, by regional households and metropolitan
households?
(2) Of those
identified in (1), how many households have had their order dispatched, by
regional households and metropolitan households?
(3) Given that
advice provided to households suggests that the packing of metropolitan orders
will commence from Monday, 14 March 2022, how is it that metropolitan orders
have been received by households as early as 5 March 2022?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) As
of 16 March 2022, 754 286 households have registered with the WA government to
receive an allocation of rapid antigen test
kits, with 721 035 households electing for delivery and 33 251 for collection.
To date, approximately 245 000 orders have
been dispatched to regional and metropolitan households. A breakdown of
registrations by regional and metropolitan regions could not be obtained within
the limited time provided. The number of registrations may be slightly higher
than the number of final orders due to some households registering multiple
times. Only one household per order will be progressed.
(3) Due to low uptake of collection at the airport
distribution point, resources were redirected to focus on packing and
distribution via postage to support the increased demand for deliveries to
households. As a result, the WA government has been able to provide free RAT
kits to Western Australians ahead of schedule.