Orders for blood tests including for lipid studies, HbA1c and HIV plummeted by as much as 60% compared with pre-pandemic levels, newly released laboratory data shows.

Similar declines have also been reported for cervical and prostate cancer screening tests, which fell by more than half in the same period.

Although states and territories — excepting Victoria — have almost returned to ‘business as usual’ following shutdowns, testing rates are still hovering below normal levels, laboratories say.

Dr Debra Graves, chief executive of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, said: “We’re concerned that people might have put something off, and then they might put it off again, and it just keeps escalating.”