A program of rapid point-of-care testing will be a game-changer for remote Indigenous communities otherwise at risk of devastation if there was an outbreak of COVID-19, a leading public health researcher says.

Professor James Ward, director of the University of Queensland’s Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, said the 45-minute turnaround of the PCR swab tests for SARS-CoV-2, is being funded by the Federal Government to protect 83 remote communities.

“Currently, it can take up to 10 days to take the nasopharyngeal swab from a very remote community, such as on the border of the NT and WA, get it to Perth for testing and then get a result,” he said.

Indigenous communities were particularly vulnerable to virus outbreaks because of their high rates of chronic disease, severe overcrowding and distance from pathology laboratories, said Professor Ward, a member of the government’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander COVID-19 Advisory Group.